Stories of Helena Owen
by natales2017
Summary: Several stories published in the book by Helena Owen. All rights reserved for her and her publisher.


Her Blood

 _ **Lesbian Vampire Romance**_

Chapter One

Ava walked through the doors of the club with a confident smile on her face and happiness shining in her eyes. To spectators she may have appeared to be just another androgynous member of generation Y. That self-pleased generation that had never quite known the struggles of those that came before them, but somehow felt the world owed them something but Ava was far more than your average layabout looking for someone else to pave her way.

Yes, Ava had grown up with accepting parents who didn't even blink when she came out as a lesbian at the age of 15, lived in a community that embraced her, and enjoyed the love and support of many friends. She'd never known a moment of discrimination, and her life had been almost magical compared to some of the stories she heard from older friends or from those that lived in other communities. Ava's life had been charmed so far, but she knew there were dangers out there. That's why she worked for a non-profit agency, helping to promote civil rights for the LGBT community.

Ava had obtained a degree that allowed her to support the agency through offering advice on legal and civil matters, but she also had a flair for organizing fundraisers. She took her job seriously and worked hard both for her clients and for her employers. She loved her job and did her best to support her community, both the LGBT community and the entire community she lived within. Still, there's a part of Ava that feels removed from those that have struggled for equality in the past; never having first-hand experience of the problems others had to face told Ava she was very lucky, but she could only sympathize with their plight. She could not completely understand their world.

As Ava walked through the gathered crowd, people stopped the tall, slim, dark-haired young woman to say hello or to pat her on the back. She'd organized this gathering, an event to raise money for the non-profit organization she worked for, and was proud of how everything turned out. Her brown eyes took in the staging, the gathered laughing, happy people, and she knew she'd produced this scene of awesomeness. She took the congratulations in her stride and made her way to a table filled with her friends.

There was someone new there but the woman was aloof, staring away from the people that surrounded her. From her pale skin to her blonde almost white hair and her casual air of "I don't want to be here, but I am," Ava formed a nickname for the woman: the Ice Queen. Ava gave a smirk as she approached the table, thinking the woman should have gone somewhere else if this isn't where she wanted to be.

At 26, Ava wasn't quite ready to settle down and if the woman had shown the slightest interest, Ava might have returned it. She wasn't a player but she preferred noncommittal relationships, the kind that ended on their own as each partner went their own way, whether that meant the next morning or a few weeks later. Ava had never had a long-term girlfriend and had no plans for one right now; she was far too busy and had a lot of years left in her, she thought, before settling down to wedded bliss.

Looking the woman over more closely, as she drew up to the table with a bench wrapping around the wall behind the group, Ava decided the woman was spectacular but not worth the effort if she couldn't even be bothered to say hello.

"Hola, mon'amies!" Ava exclaimed with a bright smile, exposing straight white teeth, for everyone around the table. She didn't care that she was mixing languages and probably garbling the pluralized version of 'my friends' in French; she was simply happy to see her friends and liked to make them laugh with her.

"Bonjour, Ava, here sit beside me; let me introduce you to my friend." This from Ava's little red-headed friend, Jenna. "Ava, this is Della. Della, Ava. Now you know each other," the perky little read-head said with a clap of her hands.

Ava was used to Jenna's strange ways and simply smiled over at the woman named Della. Apparently Jenna was well pleased with herself for introducing her two friends. Ava murmured a polite hello to the woman and held out her hand. The other woman took Ava's hand but quickly dropped it and turned away again. Ava thought the woman rude but wondered about her. What had made her so aloof, so determined to not look at Ava?

Ava looked more closely at the woman as she spoke to the other people around the table. From the way the woman dressed, Ava had assumed she was in her 40s but Della's face was smooth, unlined, and she appeared to be little more than a teenager underneath all of the makeup she'd carefully applied. Why would a teenager want to create the illusion she was so much older, Ava wondered? Ava noticed that Della wasn't drinking anything, hadn't drunk anything all night in fact, so it wasn't to purchase drinks forbidden to the younger generations.

Ava watched the woman as the night progressed and noticed that she'd talk to the other ladies at the table but she never once turned to Ava. Ava had to surmise the woman's problem was with her, though she wasn't sure why. Ava left at the end of the night, helping the staff to clean up before she headed home.

She crawled into bed after removing her tight black jeans, and black T-shirt, and plopped down in nothing but her panties. She ran her hands over her slim body, not in a sexual way, but in a thoughtful way, wondering if her appearance had somehow offended the woman. Ava didn't always dress like a man or a woman, sometimes she dressed in whatever she liked, and that combined with her short hair sometimes left her genderless. It put some people on edge; not knowing how to address her. Sometimes, she admitted to herself, watching those people trying to decide on a pronoun amused her, and their unsettledness amused her even more. She wasn't a mean, vindictive person; she just enjoyed challenging people's perceptions and forcing them to open their minds to different possibilities.

Rolling over onto her stomach, Ava stared at the light flashing from her laptop. It was as cold a blue as the waves of "don't come near me" would have appeared if they'd become visible when Ava felt them coming from Della this evening. Ava still wasn't considering the woman as a sex partner, but she did wonder what the problem was. What had she possibly done to earn such behaviour? Ava was still wondering as she fell asleep, exhausted from a long day of work and her night of being the social butterfly. There was mystery here, and it wasn't just about Della's instant dislike of Ava.

Chapter Two

Della LaCroix entered the underground chamber beneath her bed after shifting the furniture out of the way and hid herself from the light beginning to shine through the windows of her home. She had blackout curtains which would have allowed her to sleep in peace in her own bed, but tonight she needed the comfort of being locked away from the world in the black confines of the coffin hidden beneath her bedroom. Her emotions were in turmoil and at times like this she needed to hide from the world outside. The life of a vampire was very precarious sometimes, after all, and threats must be dealt with as swiftly as possible. Ava Kern was one such threat to Della.

As the peace and quiet of the coffin soothed Della's mind, she reviewed the emotionally disturbing night she'd spent sat beside Ava. As soon as the woman walked in, Della saw her and if Della had still been gifted with a pulse, it would have been pulsing in her ears. The woman was beautiful, stunning, all the euphemisms Della could think of after having lived for 350 years. From the ease with which Ava moved through the crowd, the easy smile that came to her lips at a moment's notice, Della knew Ava was the kind of woman who could break her heart.

Della had met people like Ava before, always eager to please, a smile within easy reach, a fling here, a backroom affair there. The kind that could break you without even realizing it. You picked up on who to avoid and who was safe after 231 years as a vampire. Della had been turned by just such a person when she was 19 years old. A late 18th century maiden had little knowledge of lesbian affairs; that lesbians even existed was a shock in itself, but Francesca had awoken things in Della she had not known existed, and turned her into a vampire with the promise of an eternity locked in love's embrace. Then she dumped her ten years later, disappearing with nothing but a letter saying where Della could find the means to support herself for the next few hundred years, and to avoid the vampire hunters that stalked all the members of their race.

Yes, Della had learned from Francesca how to hide their true natures, both as lesbians and as vampires, and had learned how to get by in the world. She moved every few years, never staying in one place too long and avoiding anywhere she'd been for at least 30 years after she left. Life had been much simpler before cars, telecommunications, photography, and other new technologies had made maintaining anonymity virtually impossible. Finding places to hide yourself in were becoming scarce, but she'd managed it so far. She couldn't take a chance on exposing herself to heartache or the vampire hunters. A woman like Ava, so free and open, with such a high profile that often ended up in newspapers or with her pictures splashed across webpages was a danger to Della in more ways than one.

No, it was best to just avoid the woman altogether, even if she did smell so wonderful that Della's knees had actually gone weak when Ava sat beside her. She'd never had that experience before, and it had been difficult not to turn to Ava throughout the night as the woman's scent continuously drifted into her nose. Warm spices and the delicate scent of an exotic flower surrounded the woman, far more than a simple perfume; this was Ava's scent, her blood and her skin giving off the intoxicating smell that had so threatened Della's resolve.

Della had stamped down on the urges that kept threatening to crop up throughout the night and had kept tight control of herself, refusing to acknowledge that Ava even existed, after her introduction. Della shifted in her coffin, wondering if she was overreacting, just a little, and if perhaps she could befriend Ava, at least. She quickly dismissed the idea as the vision of Ava's warm brown eyes drifted into her thoughts, the intelligence there had told Della that Ava was aware of her, interested in her, and Della had wanted desperately to return the interest, but she knew from past experience that love led only to danger, to heartache, and she wasn't willing to suffer it again, ever. Twice was enough for one lifetime.

The momentary reminder of that second attempt at love made something twist in Della's chest, something she'd thought long dead. She quickly forced the memories down, determined to leave the scab on that wound for as long as she could. Another 70 years should be long enough, Della thought, as she finally drifted into what passed for vampire sleep. Yes, another 70 years should just about heal that pain.

Della was in a meeting with the people that ran the day-to-day operations of her charity the next evening and wondered if she was really going to have to come into contact with Ava again so soon. Looking at the faces of the people around her, worried faces that were telling her they needed more funding to provide the vital resources abused members of the local LGBT community needed to get out of their abusive situations, Della knew she was going to have to cave in and contact the woman. She sighed as she picked up her phone and put a call through to Jenna, asking her to set up a meeting with the other woman.

For all accounts, Ava was a brilliant fundraiser and Della's charity needed all the help they could get. One of the services her operation provided was help with paying utility bills. Skyrocketing costs had started to cut into other programs her organization ran, and the fundraising director employed by her agency just up and quit without a warning when her husband left her for a younger woman. They needed help, quickly, and fortunately, or unfortunately in her mind; Della knew where to get it.

Della hung up the phone after fending off the bubbly Jenna's questions about what she'd "thought" of Ava, emphasis on _thought_ to convey added meaning, and let the staff know she was going to do all she could to provide more resources. Thinking of her own bank account, she wondered if it would be safer just to transfer more money out of some of her secret accounts, but knew questions would be asked, questions that could prove dangerous for her, so she resigned herself to exposure to the delectable Ava and her intoxicating scent.

One of the main reasons for bringing in someone like Ava was that the woman could go out in the sunlight; Della could not. Her skin started turning to ashes sometimes even if she barely caught a ray of light through a pane of glass in a window; trying to step out into the sunlight to raise funds would be deadly. Her staff found it odd that they only met with her when the sun went down and never knew quite what kind of hours Della was going to be able to put in at the office. They knew their jobs; however, and knew what needed doing and usually did it well, life outside of the office and greedy utility companies had thrown a wrench in the works for them, and they needed her now. She'd do what she had to in order to keep the organization operating, she thought with another sigh.

Turning to the director of finances, Della smiled at the woman, assuring her that things were going to get better. "I've made a call to meet up with a fantastic fundraiser I met last night. I think she'll be able to help us so don't panic. I'll put in enough money to tide us over in the meantime so never fear. In the future, I do want these problems brought to my attention before they become this drastic, though. Don't keep me in the dark; I can't help you that way. I know this shortfall isn't your fault but we need to work together here, it's vital. I'll see you all tomorrow, alright? I'm going to meet with this lady in an hour and I'll have more news for you then. You know how to contact me if you need anything else. Goodnight everyone, go home and get some rest!"

Della dismissed her staff and walked out to her own car, wondering what the night was going to bring her. She quickly drove home, changed her clothes to something more suited to the bar Jenna had told her to meet Ava at, and drove to the address on the other side of town. Walking into the place she quickly spotted Ava and walked over, a forced smile on her face. She'd braced herself for the meeting but Ava's scent overwhelmed her as soon as she sat down beside her. She was determined to remain professional and calm during the meeting but it was a battle she wasn't sure she could win.

She observed Ava as she sat down, wearing a flowing bohemian style maxi dress today with black-rimmed eyes that somehow made her eyes appear to be sensitive and kinder than the eyes Della had observed last night. Ava's eyes hadn't appeared cruel last night but there had been something there, a lack of concern or something that had made Della believe the woman could be unkind when she needed to be. That wasn't there tonight, and Della was surprised by the change.

"Good evening, Della. May I get you a drink?" Ava asked her, smiling as the woman's entire demeanour seemed to settle into Ice Queen mode lite. She was at least looking at Ava this time, Ava thought with an inner smirk.

"No, well yes, some tea please. That will be fine, thank you." Della could drink small sips of liquids but usually chose not to. The only sustenance she needed was blood and she was so old now that she rarely even needed that. The urge was still there, sometimes very powerful, but she used a network of donors when those urges hit her. A very quiet, discreet network of donors, otherwise she'd have been forced to get blood in other less pleasant ways and doing those things could lead to far too much trouble these days.

Della sat across from Ava, wondering if she could get a donor in later tonight. Ava's scent was driving her to distraction and she didn't hear the woman when she asked why Della had called the meeting. Oh, why hadn't she thought to send the finance director, Della wondered to herself as she tried to bring her attention back to the present? She kept losing herself in Ava's scent, wondering what her blood would taste like. What effect it would have in her veins? And, as usual when blood exchange with someone she was attracted to was involved, her thoughts also turned to sex.

Della had gone into this meeting with a cold determination to get in and get out quickly. She was wasting time daydreaming though and had totally blanked out on Ava.

"Della! You still with me here?" Ava snapped her fingers in front of Della's face and spoke loudly to the woman. From her face, Ava could tell that Della had gone somewhere far away in her mind and wondered where exactly she had gone.

"Oh my, please excuse me; it's been a long day. Yes, well, ahem." Della took a sip of the tea the barman brought to her, slipped a lock of her blonde hair behind her right ear, and then turned back to Ava with a rueful smile. "I do apologize. I'm a bit distracted. So yes, I need your help if you are willing to offer it."

"Anything for you, my lady. What services can I offer you?" Ava decided to go with the chivalrous route thinking it might put the woman at ease. It brought a smile to Della's face, anyway.

"Well, I need your help with fundraising. My organization is bleeding money at the moment, and we lost our fundraising director today. I wondered if you could offer your assistance. The event you produced last night was stunning and beneficial and we would like to hire you, short-term, if you're available for it?" Della blurted out, hoping to get the meeting over with now, before she embarrassed herself even more.

"It would be my pleasure. Who do I need to speak with?" Ava asked.

"Well, until we get a new fundraising director, I guess that would be me. I'm a night-owl though, so would that hamper your plans in any way? I guess we'd have to meet at my house, too; the office closes at 5 and I guess you'd need to come after you get off work." Della's voice trailed off as she continued her train of thought. She visibly shook herself and started to speak again, "Well, yes then, what about 7 pm? Would that be a good time for you to come by tomorrow?"

Ava smiled at Della's pained but questioning look, determined to set the woman at ease if they were going to be working together. "That'll be fine, just leave me your address and I'll meet you there tomorrow. Now, if we're going to be working together I think we have to face up to a certain truth, don't we?"

"Oh, um, what's that?" Della asked, her usual self-assuredness faltering in the face of her own erratic behaviour lately. She also panicked when she thought Ava might have realized how attracted she was to her and Della had no idea how to answer to that. She was _very_ attracted to Ava, unbelievably so, but determined to fight that attraction.

"You don't like me very much, but you need my help. I don't know what I've done to upset you, but obviously I've done something. I'd like to propose we start off on a new footing. We forget whatever happened last night and move forward in this business partnership. You need me; I'm willing to help, and you need this to work. What do you say?" Ava offered a hand to Della and hoped the woman would agree. Ava's best defence sometimes was to face things head on, and this situation called for just that approach; she believed. If she was going to get Della to calm down and get over whatever was bugging her, Ava was going to have to force her to face it and get over it.

"Ah, well, last night was a bit awkward for me, yes. But we do need to get past that don't we?" Della asked as some of her senses settled back into place. She took Ava's hand and felt an electric jolt travel up her arm, which made her gasp and look up at Ava to see if she'd felt it too. Dismissing the feeling when she didn't see a similar response on Ava's face, Della smiled, let Ava's hand go, lifted her mug of tea and said, "To new beginnings."

"To new beginnings," Ava replied as she lifted her glass of scotch to Della's tea mug. She'd felt the same thing Della had but was more adept at hiding it. She was pleased; however, to see some kind of response from Della that wasn't hostility or evasiveness. Part of the reason she was taking this job on was to discover more about Della and to find out what made her tick. One minute the woman was cold, the next she was acting like a shy schoolgirl. Ava wasn't sure what to think about the confusing mix but she was intrigued. She'd help Della and see what came of it.

Della soon excused herself, pleading another meeting to attend and drove straight home. She hid in the darkness of her study, wondering how she was going to get through the coming weeks with Ava so close. Dialling a number in her phone listed under "pizza delivery" she asked for delivery service to her address then hung up to wait for the donor. Perhaps she simply needed to feed, and then she'd get back to her normal well-controlled self. Ava was proving far too distracting, and distractions were dangerous.

Della allowed the woman into her home and took her to the study now lit with candles. She didn't plan on engaging in sex with the woman but the donors did expect a certain romantic air as they were fed on; in order to feed their own fantasies. Della drank deeply from the woman's vein but the images filling her mind were of Ava, not the beautiful creature between her thighs with her back resting against Della's chest. The thoughts filled her head and the craving for Ava grew worse instead of better. Breaking away from the woman's neck she dismissed her with an apology and a lump of cash, soon dismissing her from her memory as well.

Della walked out to the window in the study, the craving causing a pain she'd never known before. She had no idea how she was going to get through the next few weeks if fresh blood didn't soothe her. She hoped she could get through it without making a fool of herself.

Chapter Three

Ava walked home quickly, curiosity burning through her mind, making her quicken her pace even more as the city blocks fell away behind her. Della LaCroix intrigued her, one minute an ice queen, the next coy and shy, and far too distracted. It was that distraction that intrigued Ava the most. What was on the woman's mind? Ava knew the woman had felt an attraction to her, Della's inability to hide her shock when they touched proved that, but she was trying hard to hide it. In an age when people had sex at the drop of a hat, Ava found it hard to believe the woman was simply being modest or old fashioned. No, there was something she was missing here.

Running up the three flights of stairs to her apartment, she threw her bag down and went straight to the laptop beside her bed. She pulled her dress off and sat on the bed, her fingers moving quickly over the keys. She sat back when she found no results, not even for Della's name linked with her charity, but clicked the "did you mean Dellah De LaCroix" that came up on the browser. She spent several hours after searching the internet and found references to a Delya LaCroix, Delyah De La Croix, and other variations, all images and one newspaper clipping from the 1930s. Paintings and photographs, both in black and white and in colour, were basically all she found but each image revealed the Della she knew.

Thinking about the little she had learned about Della over the last 24 hours, Ava's brain produced one word: vampire. Della had to be a vampire! She only came out at night; she didn't eat, barely drank anything, and either had very strong genes and a family name that produced a mirror-image copy with the same name every few decades or the woman was a vampire. Ava had heard rumours that the creatures actually existed but she'd always dismissed the idea. She lived in a major city filled with people from all walks of life and she'd never met a vampire. Nothing else really made sense. She knew people could resemble their ancestors, but this was uncanny. So many, with the same kind of name was just spooky!

Ava pushed the computer off of her lap and went to her bathroom to run a bath. Sitting back in the hot water, Ava allowed herself to relax, going over the information again and again. She finally concluded that, either way, asking Della about her current status as a human being or vampire might be dangerous. She would have to bring it up at some point; her curiosity wouldn't allow the question to go unanswered, but maybe it would be best to wait and observe for now?

Sliding under the water Ava let the hot water rinse away her thoughts and decided food and bed were called for. She was going to have some long days ahead of her with two jobs, and she needed to get some rest to stay alert around a woman who may or may not be a vampire.

Ava soon put her burning curiosity on the back burner and focused on staying awake. She spent long hours with Della each night planning fundraising events, and her days were spent on her main job. They now had several promising events planned and Ava was looking forward to them, but she was exhausted. Three weeks had produced a stronger working relationship with Della but Ava still did not have the confidence to ask her about the pictures and paintings she'd found.

The pair had actually become friends, though Ava would never have dreamed that were possible from their first meeting. Della knew all about Ava, her family, her life so far, but she'd not shared much about her own life, other than she was the only surviving member of her family and had few true friends. Ava supposed being over 350 years old would certainly mean most of your family died before you, but kept the thought to herself.

Ava knew that outside of Della she shouldn't breathe a word to others about her suspicions about Della, that could prove dangerous for Della and she'd come to really care about the woman, even if she was still somewhat distant. She loved how devoted Della was to her cause though, how much time and effort she poured into it. She loved the woman's dry sense of humour and how she laughed at Ava's antics. Ava would often break into a variety of dances to wake herself up during the long nights, and Della found it incredibly funny most of the time. At other times, the dances were sensual and stole Della's breath away.

Ava was slim with breasts that might fill Della's palms and had almost a boyish figure, but she was still the most beautiful woman Della had ever seen. Ava always smiled, even when she was frustrated or tired beyond words. Della knew she was also devoted to getting her job done the best way possible. She was competent at what she did and Della watched over the weeks as the woman she thought was a player, someone she thought was out for her own well-being, turned into this incredibly intelligent, kind, caring person that she'd never suspected existed beneath the façade Ava used.

Because it was a façade, Della thought. Ava may have never known the torture of being a lesbian throughout time but she still had her own insecurities, her own worries. She'd learned early to make people smile as a distraction technique and used it often. Della doubted Ava was even aware now that her humour was a tool to fend off people that might get too close to her. Ava also used her "I'm too young to get married" as a way of keeping people at a distance. She devoted herself to her work but that was also a defensive move. She didn't have to commit; she could keep herself in her bubble, and prevent heartache as long as she kept people from getting too close. Della wasn't sure what had caused Ava to take such measures, but she knew they were there. For all that Ava talked, she still had no idea what made Ava need to protect herself so much.

Over the weeks Della had come to adore Ava even more while learning to keep control of her vacillating emotions. She'd settled down into a routine with Ava that kept them both safe. They would often catch the other woman staring or feel a jolt as they accidentally touched but both women agreed, without discussion, that this was business. Anything else would have to come after.

Ava never questioned whether Della was a lesbian or not, she made the assumption that she was because she'd gone to lesbian events with Jenna and she seemed to be interested in Ava, but she'd never said the words out loud. It never even occurred to her to ask Della herself, or her friends; she just made the assumption. She thought about it the night of the first event; however, as she dressed herself. Maybe she wasn't? She'd never heard of Della before she'd met her, but she'd also not heard much about her since she had. There were no former flames that she knew of, no telling comments that would have let her know for sure, just her own assumptions about the woman.

"Oh, please don't let me be interested in a woman who isn't even a lesbian! I've gone down that road before and I am not making a fool of myself again!" Ava said to her reflection in the mirror. She'd gone for sexy but androgynous for tonight's event. Her eyes were rimmed in smoky makeup that made her eyes beautiful. Her short hair was styled into a messy mop of curls that fell into her eyes, and the white shirt she wore was only made modest by the vest she put on over it. When it fell open, though, her dark nipples were apparent.

Ava grinned at her image as she gave herself one final look, knowing that she was flouting the boundaries of good taste. She liked pushing the edge though, and hoped that tonight she would finally get something more from Della than a polite handshake. Maybe her outfit would finally make that control snap, Ava thought, and she'd get more than she bargained for.

As Ava waited for the taxi to pick her up, she thought about the word vampire again. Over the weeks spent in Della's house, she'd noticed a lack of anything resembling food or drink, other than what Della provided for Ava, and the only room with a mirror in it was the guest bathroom. Ava never saw Della eat or drink anything, either. Thinking of the other signs of a vampire, Ava dismissed them because Della was an atheist, crosses and holy water might not work on those that didn't believe. She never saw a hint of fangs, although there did appear to be two slight bumps on Della's gums, just above her canine teeth. Ava just wasn't sure about that part but she knew that she'd grown to care about the woman, even though their relationship was meant to only be business.

Ava felt the same attraction to Della as Della felt for her. She dreamed about the woman, day and night, longed to touch her skin and soothe the worry that sometimes knitted her brow. She wanted to get to know her better and spend even more time with her. She found herself often focusing on Della's beautiful red lips, decorated only with a shimmery gloss. Or the ice-blue eyes that seemed to hide so much but promised depths Ava couldn't even imagine. And Della's skin tempted Ava often. Everything about the woman was a temptation, even if it was still a mystery why she hid behind the artifice of being older than she was. Obviously Della wasn't a teenager, but she wasn't 40 years old either. She couldn't be, not with skin that smooth. Which brought Ava back to _that_ word, again.

Dismissing her thoughts finally, knowing she was going to be late if the taxi didn't soon show, she began to pace in front of her building. Finally, the car showed up and she gave the address where the event was being held. Much like the first time she met Della, Ava walked through the crowd and greeted the smiles with one of her own, took the slaps on the back, and walked up to the table filled with her friends and Della. This time, however, she was greeted with a wide smile from Della, not the coldness and refusal to acknowledge that she even existed unless prompted to. Ava slid down in the empty chair to Della's right, and looked out at the happy people mixing around her.

Della leaned over to whisper in Ava's ear. "It looks like more success for you, which means success for us! I can't thank you enough, Ava!"

Ava sat back with a grin, brushing Della's praise aside, and said, "Oh, this is a lot of your hard work too. Don't give me all the credit here, you worked hard to make this happen!"

"Perhaps, but I'd never have been able to do it without you. Thank you, so much!"

"Not a problem, sweets, it was my pleasure. Although being able to sleep again will be nice, I must say." Ava gave a tired grin, then caught a waiter as he passed by to snag a drink.

Several hours later Ava was tipsy, singing a song she'd heard that evening as she helped the staff clean up, again. Della came up to her and asked how she was getting home.

"Oh, I'll call a taxi Della, never fear. I'm not walking home this late at night." Ava said with a slight drawl that wasn't normally there.

"Oh, I don't think a taxi will satisfy me, Ava, I need to know you're home and in your bed safe and sound. Come with me, I'll drive you home." Della said, brushing a curl behind Ava's ear and out of her eye where it kept brushing her eyelid, making Ava blink madly.

"Really? Cool, yeah, that'd be great." Ava said with a sloppy smile. The little bit of alcohol she'd drunk tonight had gone straight to her head for some reason. Maybe it was lack of sleep, she wondered as she walked out of the place with Della. She got into Della's car and sat back, letting the luxurious seats and power of the car's engine soothe her on the drive to her side of town. She didn't even notice the flickering of the street lights as Della drove her home, not saying a word because she was snoozing.

Della pulled up to Ava's apartment building and turned the car off, watching Ava as she slept lightly in the seat beside her. She was beautiful and Della wanted nothing more than to brush her lips against Ava's. She had allowed herself to build a friendship with the woman but she was still too afraid to allow any more than that. She'd built a life for herself, a life she was going to have to leave soon or people would start to ask questions, between her past heartache and not being able to stay put for too long she couldn't afford a relationship.

Della had already set up the charity to operate after she was gone, but she couldn't leave someone like Ava behind. The woman had wormed her way into Della's heart though, despite Della's walls, and it was going to be hard enough to leave her without taking the relationship further. Sitting back in her seat she spoke Ava's name, hoping to awaken her without touching her. Ava's only response was a gentle snore.

Sighing loudly, Della reached over and shook Ava gently, "Come on sweetheart, rise and shine. Time to head home."

Ava's reaction was sudden and unexpected. Instead of jumping or crying out she grabbed Della's hand and pulled her close, claiming Della's mouth before she could form a protest. Ava's kiss was slow, sensual, and perfect. She cupped Della's face, one hand gripping Della's chin to nudge her mouth open. Della tried to move away at the first brush of Ava's tongue against her lips but her body refused to move. She needed to know Ava's taste just once, that's all, just this once. Then she'd walk away from her; she'd leave tonight if she had to, just to run from the inevitable pain that would come if she let this go any further.

Ava lost herself in the feel of Della's mouth on her own. Her tongue rasping against Della's teeth was one of the most erotic sensations she'd ever felt, and the hum of pleasure that Della released as Ava's arms moved her face around was more intoxicating than any alcohol she'd ever drunk. The intensity of the moment grew and Ava tried to hold on to Della, tried to keep her face close so that she could continue the absolute rapture she was feeling. She didn't want to let go of the other woman. She wanted to hold her there forever kissing her way into oblivion.

Ava moved, however, wanting to pull Della into the seat with her, her need to feel the woman's body against her own so great. For Della it was a moment of sensibility, when reality intruded and she fought her way back out of the depths of passion Ava's scotch flavoured kiss had plunged her into. She couldn't allow this to go further. She simply couldn't. Gathering up all of her will and using her strength, she broke away from Ava, breathing heavily but thinking a little more clearly.

"Come on, Ava, let's get you to bed. You're drunk." Della breathed, her voice shaking.

"I'm not drunk. I fall down when I'm drunk and I haven't fallen down yet." Ava smirked up to Della.

"Well, we still need to get you inside, come on, let's get out of this car." Della opened the door and walked around to Ava's door. Opening the door for Ava she helped the other woman get out of the low-slung car and walked up the stairs until they were at Ava's door.

"Now go inside and get to bed. We have to do this all over again tomorrow." Della nudged Ava in through the door and watched as the woman fell down on a couch from her perch by the door. She couldn't come in unless Ava asked her too, after all.

"Well, aren't you going to come in and put me to bed? I think we can find something to keep us occupied until tomorrow evening, you know?" Ava asked with a sexy grin spread all over her face.

"Thank you but no. I should get to bed." Della rebuffed Ava's invitation.

"Oh, come off it, you won't go to sleep until the sun comes up! I've looked at the time stamps on your emails. You don't sleep until the sun comes up!"

Della's breath caught as Ava spoke, wondering if she'd been found out. Ava soon distracted her from that thought when she stood back up and stalked over to Della, pulling her vest off and unbuttoning her shirt slowly. Della looked around the hallway, hoping to protect Ava from being observed if anyone else was out there. When she looked back Ava was naked, every stitch of her clothing gone and she was much too close for comfort.

Della let her gaze travel down Ava's slim frame, from her small gorgeous breasts to her narrow hips, and down the muscular, but still feminine legs. Ava may not have been one of the slim supermodels walking down a runway in their underwear, but she could still stop traffic. She'd certainly stopped Della in her tracks.

"Look Della, I'm not asking for much. Okay, maybe I am a bit drunk, but we've been bouncing away from this for weeks now. I want you. I _need_ you. I have to know how you feel, what sounds you make when you're most aroused, how you smell, and most of all what you taste like. I go to sleep each night and dream of having my head buried between your legs and making you climb the walls. I dream of my fingers inside you, wringing out orgasm after orgasm. I just can't stand it anymore; I need to touch you, to know you or I'm going to spontaneously combust!"

Della listened to Ava, she couldn't close her ears against the other woman's words, and her own passion grew as Ava's words created visualizations that made her knees go weak. Walking into the apartment she shut the door, hoping she could make it to the couch before her knees gave out.

"Ava, you can have anyone around you. Why do you want me?" Della asked quietly as she positioned herself on the couch, Ava joining her on the other end.

"Because underneath those clothes and that makeup you wear is a beautiful woman that thrills me. You're smart, you're funny, you're wonderful, but most of all you're you. You're Della with all of your foibles, your worries, and your aloofness. You're this mysterious woman that makes me wonder, that makes me think, that makes me want to be something I've never been."

"What's that?" Della broke in, curiosity getting the better of her.

"Someone's partner. I've had lovers. I've had some really great fun, but I've never really had anyone to share my life with. The last few weeks, knowing I was getting off of work and going to you have been so eye opening for me. And before you say it, no, not just anyone would do. It was going to you that thrilled me, that finally made me want to leave my office each night. It was you, Della. Not anybody else. Only you." Ava ended her words by closing the final distance between her and Della, taking Della's hand.

Just once, Della said to herself. Maybe once would satisfy them both. It had been over 70 years since she'd had sex. Maybe she'd be horrible at it and Ava wouldn't want her anymore, alleviating the burden of Della having to leave her behind? Maybe once would be enough to satisfy the hunger in Della's own soul for Ava? Her will to resist in tatters, Della tilted her face, letting her lips fall onto Ava's in sweet surrender.

Della expected overwhelming passion, a quick, deranged session ruled by lust. Ava's response was anything but. It was sweet, gentle, imploring. Della was the one that lost herself and her control as she pushed Ava back on the couch. Her hands, so long chained to her sides with mental cuffs, went straight for Ava's breasts, her mouth quickly following. Her sucking lips teased Ava's nipples to tight buds that Della then flicked with her tongue.

Ava's response was a cry of pleasure and an involuntary thrust from her hips. Della wanted to go slow, to spend the entire night exploring this beautiful woman, but her cravings would not let her go. She hadn't voiced her own dreams but she'd had the same dreams as Ava, only it was her mouth tasting Ava, her fingers in Ava's body driving Ava over the edge. Della quickly moved, repressing an urge to bare her fangs as she moved between Ava's legs. Her vampire-self wanted to taste Ava as well, but she had to control that part of her. Things would go horribly wrong if she revealed her true nature to Ava.

Instead of using her fangs, she used her tongue, sliding her tongue between Ava's bare folds and up to her lover's clit. Della closed her eyes, savouring the taste of Ava on her tongue at last. She rolled her tongue around Ava's clit, wanting to gather more of her taste, to fill her nose with Ava's smell. Both were strongest here, a perfume vastly more intoxicating than any known flower on earth, and Della filled her every sense with it. Della's tongue never stopped moving, and Ava's response was enthralling to watch but Della was lost in how incredibly fulfilling it was to finally taste Ava. The hunger had almost driven her mad and now that she knew Ava's taste, she knew once was never going to be enough. Not nearly enough.

Ava was keening, her body demanding more of her lover, and she finally came up for enough air to demand Della give her more.

"Now, Della, I need more, give me more darling please!"

Della responded by running a finger down from Ava's clit, between her swollen folds, and into the creamy wet depths of Ava's body. Ava felt the fingers sliding into her and rode them. She could feel her body clenching around Della's fingers and knew her release was close. She'd waited for Della for so long, even her own fingers not enough to satisfy her but now the slightest of Della's touches made her burn and soon, with the driving force of Della's fingers plunging into her, Ava went over the edge and came with grasping spasms around Della's fingers.

Della watched with joy as Ava's back arched and her thighs clasped around Della's head. The movement blocked the sound of Ava's cries of fulfilment but Della knew by Ava's movements that she was cumming, and cumming hard. Della smiled as she let Ava's clit go, her circling, sucking tongue giving one last soothing lap as she moved to lay her head on Ava's stomach, her ass in the air on the couch.

Ava finally relaxed back against the couch, her breath coming in quick gasps.

"Fuck me, Della! I don't think anyone's ever stolen my breath before!" Ava finally gasped out. She moved finally, looking up at Della kneeling over her, ass in the air.

"Mm, that's tempting it is. Stay just like that please." Ava asked.

She moved out from under Della and quickly moved up behind her. Ava ran a finger down Della's back and smiled as Della released a shiver. She let the finger drift down until she found Della's own hot wet folds and slid a finger inside the hot depths. Della's pussy grasped Ava's finger, pulling it further in, refusing to let it go and Della's breath hitched.

Ava knelt on the floor and pulled Della's ass back to her. Della had a beautiful body and full breasts that were far heavier than Ava's. Her hips were wide but her waist slim. The kind of beauty that _would_ be found walking down a runway in her underwear with the height to match. Ava was glad Della wasn't short because she liked having more to hold. Ava moved her mouth to Della's twisting body, letting her tongue slowly explore Della's heat. She found the woman's clit and sucked on it, pulling it gently between her teeth.

Della twisted again, dislodging Ava's mouth as she moved and Ava placed a light slap on Della's ass to tell her to be still. The blow wasn't violent or performed with malice, just enough to make Della still her movements some and to make the skin sting in a pleasant burning way. Della gasped, her pleasure at the slap surprising her. Ava gave a dirty laugh, a low pleasing sound, and continued to move her fingers in Della's body.

"You liked that, did you? We'll have to talk about that more, later. For now, I want you in my bed. Come on, follow me. Let's destroy my bed." Ava was completely sober now, but her tiredness melted with the urge to have Della writhing beneath her mouth.

Della followed Ava into the room and settled on the red silk covered bed. She spread her legs wide, giving Ava an inviting smile as she settled into the pillows behind her. Ava, unable to resist Della's allure, quickly followed, tasting Della's nipples first, driving the woman to a frenzy of need.

"Stop, Ava, stop, make me cum darling, I can't take it anymore, make me cum!"

Ava gave in to Della's commands, sliding two fingers into the woman's damp heat, fucking her with her hand. She kept her mouth on Della's nipples, having discovered already that this was something Della needed. Ava soon felt the clenching, grasping of muscles that signalled an orgasm and smiled against Della's breast, her own satisfaction with making Della cum being vocalized as a satisfied laugh.

"That's it my darling, let go, let it all go. Cum for me baby, keep going, don't stop." Ava encouraged her lover, hoping the words would spur Della on. Della thrashed back against the bed, her shout of joy surprising but satisfying for Ava. Ava watched, fascinated by the look of utter bliss on Della's face, at how her body moved as she lost all control. Della's movements soon began to slow and Ava moved to spread out beside her, happy and content with her satisfied lover. Her mind was quiet for the first time in a long time, and she pulled Della close to her, the woman's slight snores making her smile. She must not have been sleeping well either, Ava thought, as she let a dreamless sleep claim her.

"You alright, Ava?" Della asked as she drove them back to her house. They'd spent the night making love in Ava's tiny little apartment. Della wanted Ava in her own bed tonight. The fundraising event had gone well and both ladies were pleased with the turnout. Ava smiled back at Della and took her hand, kissing Della's palm.

"I'm absolutely magical, Della. Golden in…" Ava's words were cut off as a large sport-utility vehicle ploughed into her side of the car, not even attempting to stop at the stop sign on his side, braking only at the last moment, as the force spun Della's car against a lamp post, pinning the driver's door closed. His vehicle followed Della's but its driving force was slowed and further damage was miraculously prevented.

Della didn't lose consciousness and maintained awareness throughout the whole ordeal, her only thoughts for Ava as everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Ava never saw a thing and lost consciousness on impact as metal and glass flew into the right side of her body. Della's first thought when the car finally stopped was to check on Ava. She looked over at the woman she adored and saw her dark hair wet with blood that poured down her face, a piece of metal sticking out of her side, and her right arm was entirely shattered.

Della unbuckled herself and reached for Ava. She looked up as she heard an engine and saw the guy in the other vehicle driving away, his vehicle barely even scratched. She didn't care at this point; she only wanted to check Ava. Della felt for a pulse and found one, slow and weak, but knew from the smell of blood in the car, from how much of it there was that Ava had very little time. She was going to bleed out in minutes.

Della looked at her friend, her lover, and tears fell from her eyes, blood red-tears. "I'm so sorry Ava; I have to do this. I can't let you die."

Della quickly drained Ava of any remaining blood she had within her body and before Ava's heart could stop entirely Della tore open her own wrist with her fangs and let the blood pour back into Ava's mouth. Della massaged Ava's throat, encouraging the blood to drain down, to infect Ava with the living death she herself had lived with for so long. As she waited, she pulled the piece of metal out of Ava's body and wrenched her arm bones back together. Finally, after an eternity, Ava coughed, and her cuts started to heal. The ritual didn't always work, but it had this time. Della breathed a sigh of relief. She soothed Ava's brow, shushed her as she made pained noises, her body dying but coming back to some semblance of life; a painful process. She was also experiencing the sensation of a severely damaged body being held, not painful but not comfortable either.

Della called emergency services as Ava finally regained consciousness and sighed in relief as Ava's eyes finally opened. Her relief quickly turned cold as Ava's hate filled eyes met her own.

"What have you done to me?"

Chapter Four

Della's chest clenched as Ava's anger came over her in waves. This was a possibility and perhaps she'd been selfish, but she could not let Ava die. She simply couldn't have.

"Let's just get through this then I'll explain everything." Two hours later, after being cut out of the car and drove home in a taxi, the women sat on the couch in Della's study, pictures flashing by on a computer screen before Ava's eyes.

"This was Martine. She was my love in the 1930s. I could not protect her; I hesitated after my maker left me and destroyed my trust and faith. I could not tell Martine what I was, I could not share my burden with her, but we were happy. We lived in Paris; she was one of the most famous burlesque dancers and singers in Paris at the time. We lived an open life of homosexuality; we were accepted, feted, loved by all who knew us. Then the Nazis rolled into Paris. The Gestapo heard about us and they took Martine. She'd spurned one of the collaborators; he'd made an advance towards her and she rejected him, I later found out, so he informed on her. The Gestapo had her sent to a death camp and she died there. If I had told her my secret, if I had changed her, she would still be alive today. But I balked; I hid my nature from her. And she paid for it. I wasn't going to let that happen again. Not with you too."

"That's why you've hid yourself away for so long? You're a vampire? I suspected as much when I found all of that stuff online. And I understand why you did it now, I did at the time, but the shock of it all was overwhelming. I may not have reacted in the best way." Ava started but Della stopped her.

"Let me finish. I've spent 70 years ashamed. Ashamed that my lifestyle choice caused Martine's death, that my cowardice prevented me from keeping her alive, that my selfishness let me live out in the open as we did. I've hid what I am, a vampire and a lesbian, for a long time now. The vampire part for much longer, for obvious reasons. My life has been about hiding and later about not letting anyone in. I've been ashamed of what I am but I'm not ashamed anymore. That's because of you. I have to be brave, I have to be what I am. I will still hide the vampire part, I don't want to be hunted down or used as a weapon, but I will follow your example and stop hiding that I love you, that I love women. You are a strong woman, worthy of a far greater person than I am, but if you'll have me, I'd like to spend my life with you. If not, at least stay long enough for me to teach you what you need to know to survive in your new world." Della broke off with a sob, her heart breaking at the thought of Ava leaving her.

"Della. I'm not going anywhere. You finally opened my eyes. The one thing I've been missing is a partner. I need to share my life with you, to come home to you, to build a home with you. You are home to me now and I simply don't want to live a life without you in it. It would be a life not worth living. Let's go to bed my sweet. Please?"

Della's still heart throbbed for a moment, something it would sometimes do, and she took a deep breath. That was something she'd never quite figured out, how she still breathed but her heart was still, giving the occasional pump to remind her of what was missing. Now she knew it was her emotions that drove the organ to clench and she smiled. This was more than she could have hoped for.

"Can we get gay/vampire married Della?" Ava asked as they walked up the stairs to her bedroom.

Della stopped and looked at Ava. "Well, if that's what you want to do we can get gay married yes. We can even do a vampire wedding," she said with a laugh.

"I'd like that very much," Ava said as they stepped into the bedroom and their clothes melted away. Ava straddled Della, her hunger for the woman now mixed with a bloodlust. She needed to feed, Della had much to teach her.

Using her fangs she scratched a path down Della's breast, finally closing her mouth around the woman's nipple, her fangs sinking in as she sucked. The pleasure of tasting Della's blood almost distracted her but she wanted her lover cumming beneath her so she moved her hand down to Della's clit, circling the little nub gently with her thumb.

Della inhaled, Ava's ministrations filling her body with pleasure, not the pain it might have caused a human. Ava's fangs were long, sharp, and delicate, unlike Della's much stronger and thicker ones. The tiny fangs were barely even noticeable but as her blood passed into Ava her head filled with the images Ava was thinking, of the many things Ava wanted to do to her. It was like being fucked twice at once.

Ava couldn't stop herself, the thoughts just flitted through her mind and she imagined a variety of ways and places she wanted to take Della's body. Things that she knew would please the other woman and make her cum. Applying light pressure to Della's clit as she thought and sucked, Ava moaned in happiness as Della's body quickly convulsed.

The power of Della's orgasm almost dislodged Ava but she clung to her lover, wanting to prolong the pleasure for Della as long as she could. Della smiled to herself knowing Ava couldn't see her. She was going to return that little biting favour here in just a minute. Using her vampire quickness, she had Ava flipped and on her back in to time, her fangs buried in Ava's own right breast.

Ava squealed at the unexpected pleasure of Della's fangs entering her body; a shock that quickly turned to pleasure. She thought it might hurt but no, it was pure bliss, no wonder Della had cum so quick! Della's fingers quickly filled her pussy and the world disappeared as Ava went sailing into the ether of a powerful orgasm. The world turned into Della's thoughts, images of her own death being sent to her but quickly followed with the future Della had envisioned for them. Sex on a boat adrift at sea, sun and passion filling their days as they sailed the ocean, nights filled with cool breezed and blowing curtains in a Moroccan castle, the cool floor of a tent in the jungle, and Ava was finally cumming as a lifetime of pleasure joined with the moment to release so much of Ava's pent up emotions and tension that she was certain she must have set the whole house on fire with her explosion.

Coming back to her senses she could see that the house was fine, she was fine, and Della was fine. All was right with the world, for the moment. Where a lifetime of empty nights had faced her she now faced a lifetime filled with passion and love. Della had finally realized that she couldn't spend eternity alone as well and forever beckoned them.

"So, sailing huh?" Ava asked Della.

"Well, we can't really do that one can we? Not without a crew at least, so perhaps we need a bigger boat. Sunlight is our enemy, after all. We could spend our nights sailing and making love as the crew sailed the boat during the day." Della laughed, thinking her own inclusion of sunlight a bit silly as well.

"I'll miss the sun, as I'm sure you do. But we can share it that way, when we miss it too much. We can do anything together, my love. Always together, forever and always. Never alone again. We have each other, and I'm not going anywhere." Ava assured her.

"I won't abandon you, as my maker did me. You're a part of me now. That's something she and I never shared, I was a toy. But you, you are my partner, my darling, now and always. I promise you that." Della ended her own declaration with a kiss, her passion quickly growing for the woman beneath her. She was going to fill a lifetime of making love to this woman. Perhaps then she'd get her fill, but she somehow doubted it.

The End

Her Kiss

 _ **Lesbian Romance**_

About the Story

It would be accurate to say that Jess is reeling from the breakup of her relationship with Darin. After all, it was only 45 minutes ago. Unfortunately, it would _also_ be accurate to say that she ran out and left Darin at the altar. Now she's holed up in a diner, trying to drown her troubles in bad coffee so she doesn't have to figure out what to do next. And that's when she runs into Sky - a waitress with a wicked sense of humor and a no-nonsense attitude. Also, Sky happens to be the most beautiful woman Jess has ever seen in her life.

There are two ways to go in life when your parents are hippies who name you Sky, and Sky wasn't about to go the hippie route herself. She's hasn't taken shit from anyone since she was a kid, and she stopped believing sob stories in her teens. People take care of themselves, or don't. Not her problem.

But whether Sky wants to admit it or not, there's something missing in her life, and whether or not this sobbing girl in front of her is a spoiled little rich girl... she may be the one to make Sky's heart turn over.

Chapter One

The only ones who came into the diner this late were drunks. They were people with a few bucks to spend on food, and homes they didn't want to go back to, and Sky had long ago learned not to engage them in conversation. She'd seen runaways of all stripes, affairs, and drug deals. The worst were the people with weapons, but the second worst; easily, were the people who wanted Sky to tell them they'd done the right thing. She'd long ago decided she didn't know what the right thing was. She didn't want advice on her conscience.

So she liked tonight's sole patron, a girl sticking to herself in the corner booth. She said thank you when Sky refilled her coffee, but she didn't look up. She'd already been there when Sky arrived, and the other waitress shrugged, as if to ask what sense could be made of a woman who dressed like that, sitting in a place like this.

 _Like that_ was preppy: one of those button-down shirts, the type of jeans that came pre-shredded, ankle boots that probably cost more than Sky's rent. And everything else was preppy, too: from the almost ostentatiously-understated jewelry—that Sky was sure cost a fortune—to the faint scent of designer perfume and the lip-balm-and-mascara makeup that preppy girls these days liked to wear. _Oh, I'm low maintenance._ Sure.

So, maybe Sky had expected to dislike her. Maybe. But she was polite and she didn't talk, and gradually that won Sky over.

Then she got curious. And her rule was never to get curious. But hell, it was 1AM in a seedy Chicago diner, and there was a preppy girl staring off into the distance like she didn't even know what planet she was on. Sky had to know what this was about.

"More coffee?"

"Yes, please." The woman slid her cup across the table with her fingertips.

"Why?" Sky asked her.

The woman looked up, and Sky forgot how to breathe. Yes, she was perfectly preppy, with the minimal makeup and the straight hair and the…

She was gorgeous. She was one of the most beautiful women Sky had seen in her life. Her eyes were a warm brown with just the faintest hint of green around the edges; her lips were small, but seemed perfectly placed in the delicate features of her face. She had long lashes and perfectly arched brows, and the faintest hint of cheekbones. It was Angelina Jolie done subtly. It was like a painting somewhere.

Right now, of course, her perfect lips were parted in confusion.

"Did you just ask me…why I want more coffee?" In many Chicagoans, the question would have been combative. She was clearly trying not to offend, however.

"I…" It took Sky a moment to remember what she'd meant to say. Had she seen a flash of desire when the woman looked at her? No, of course not.

She had, though. She knew she had.

She tried to remember what they were talking about. Coffee? Yes. "Well, I didn't think you liked it—every time you take a sip, you wince."

"Oh, I…don't really like coffee." She shrugged. "But it's really cold outside."

"We have hot chocolate," Sky suggested.

"Oh!" Her cheeks flushed, and for a moment she looked like a little kid, perfectly happy. "That would be wonderful."

Sky left, trying to keep the blush from her cheeks. _Wonderful._ She could do something wonderful. It didn't matter that it was just a figure of speech. She ladled some oatmeal into a bowl, put the fixings around the side of it neatly, and snatched an order of bacon off the grill.

"That was for me," the cook said grumpily.

"Make more. My treat." Sky grinned.

"Are you…drunk?" The cook raised an eyebrow.

"No, why?"

"Never seen you happy before."

Sky shrugged. She backed her way out of the kitchen and set the food down with the hot chocolate.

"I…didn't order anything."

"You really should eat. You've been here for hours drinking coffee."

"This is true." The girl looked up as Sky slid into the booth. Her eyes asked the question rather than her words.

"I'm…" _Curious._ "Bored. Slow night. Do you mind?"

"No." She smiled again, genuinely warm, her face angelic in the flickering yellow lights. "What's a normal night like around here?"

"Well, I don't normally work Mondays." Sky looked around herself. "Most other nights, there'd be a fight outside, some drunks at the bar, a few rich kids coming someplace they shouldn't."

"Do people get mugged around here?" The woman paused, a spoonful of oatmeal halfway to her mouth. Her eyes were wide.

"No, but this isn't a rich neighborhood. They just want to feel like they're brave." Sky rolled her eyes. "So what's your name?"

"Jess. And you?"

Sky paused.

"Sky. My name is Sky."

"Your parents…" Jess was staring at her like she was trying not to laugh. She'd better not laugh. Sky had gotten enough of that over the years.

"Were huge hippies," Sky finished. "Yes." She wasn't about to explain to some random girl that as much as she hated the name, she loved her parents and still missed them terribly. She wasn't about to admit that she liked how much you could tell about a person from how they responded when she introduced herself. And she _certainly_ wasn't about to admit that when she was little, she liked to sit watching the dawn and the dusk, and that she would tell herself the sky was _her_ , and she was the sky.

There was a pause.

"I think it's pretty," the girl offered finally. She gave a smile, and if there was a touch of pity in it, there also seemed to be a touch of honesty. Interesting.

She was beautiful. Sky hated to admit it to herself, but it was true. Straight girls often were, after all; she just wished that she had some way to fall only for the ones who would like her back, and she _especially_ wished that she hadn't fallen for such an obvious prep school girl—though from the way she had looked at Sky when the waitress sat down, she was just as smitten as Sky was herself.

 _Don't ever be a straight girl's experiment, Sky reminded herself._

"Well, thanks. You're…" _Gorgeous._ "Sweet."

The girl blushed a little and went back to her oatmeal. It was good that she was looking away, because unfortunately, she was even prettier when she blushed.

 _Dammit._

Sky was just thinking that she should get up and run like hell when Jess looked up again.

"Tell me about you," she said. Her intent brown eyes had a touch of green to them, and her pert little nose wrinkled as she sniffed at the hot cocoa.

"What about me?" Sky frowned.

"Have you always lived in Chicago?"

"No, I came here from Ithaca, New York." Sky smiled wryly. "Hippy country."

"So why did you come here?" The woman took a sip, and sighed happily. "Oh, this is much better, thank you."

"You're welcome. I came here for college. UChicago."

"Really?" Her eyebrows went up, and then Jess frowned slightly—wondering what a UChicago graduate was doing working at a diner.

"I majored in classics," Sky told her. "Greek literature." And a classics major was worth squat in this economy.

"Oh." There was no pity there, only commiseration. At Sky's raised eyebrow, Jess leaned in with a conspiratorial grin, "I majored in archaeology. So I understand."

"You…really? You didn't." Sky could not possibly see this woman digging in the dirt.

"Oh, yes. I wanted to be Indiana Jones when I grew up." A look of wounded pride appeared when Sky began to laugh. "I'm serious, you know."

"I'm just picturing you with the hat and the whip." Sky swallowed another guffaw and leaned forward to rest her chin on her hands. "So what eras did you study?"

"Western Chin urns," the woman said, precisely. "I was supposed to be going on a dig…soon."

The truth arrived in a flash, and Sky refrained from giving a little noise of interest. This was it, she could tell: this was the reason the woman was holed up in a little diner at this time of morning. Something to do with…her career?

Interesting. That wasn't what she'd expected. Now she was even more curious.

"Is something wrong?" She asked delicately, and she saw an unexpected flash of displeasure in the woman's eyes.

"Oh, come on. You had to know there was something wrong, didn't you?"

"I did," Sky admitted, set off balance. "I, uh…people often seem to want to talk about it, though."

"And when I didn't, you got curious?" A sardonic lift of one brow. "Maybe I should go."

"No, no." Sky put out her hand apologetically. "I'm really sorry. You don't have to tell me anything. You're right; it's none of my business. And for what it's worth? I'm sorry you're having trouble."

Now Jess's mouth twisted.

"Oh, I'm not having trouble," she said bitterly. "Not at all."

Sky stared, at a loss for anything to say.

"You see…" The woman closed her eyes, and when she opened them there was a sheen of tears there. "I have everything anyone could ever want."

"I can't tell if you believe that or not," Sky said finally.

"Of course I believe it. It's true. What do people want in life? A nice house, which I have. A job they _like_ —which I have. No reason to expect anything is going to go wrong. I have that, too. And…" She paused. "And a gorgeous guy, right? The guy who's great in bed, and supports every endeavor, and is super handsome, and would never cheat on you."

There. There it was. It hit Sky in the gut and she looked away, biting her lip. This woman had never been hers, she reminded herself. They had just met in a diner, and the woman was only talking to her because she thought she'd never see Sky again. And in any case, it was about as awful as it could be that Sky wanted the woman to say she and her boyfriend were having problems.

When Jess looked up again, tears now trembling in her lashes, Sky regretted it even more. This wasn't something to wish on anyone.

"I'm supposed to get married in two weeks," Jess said. "And he's the greatest guy in the world. Any woman would want him. …and I just want to run away."

Chapter Two

"Sky." The voice crackled down the line. "Are you awake, sweetheart?"

"I am now." Sky fumbled for a calendar. Thursday. She was _sure_ she hadn't been on the schedule today. With panic out of the way, grumpiness set in. "What's up?"

"There's some chick here asking for you." Sylvia's voice was amused. "Not really your type, but pretty anyway. Looks like she comes from money. I'd take a shot, honey."

 _Jess._ Sky was out of bed and stumbling around her room in a moment, looking between her jewelry and her clothes and her dresser. Her brain was going a million miles per hour; she couldn't figure out what to do first.

"That's not—she isn't—look, tell her I'll be right there."

"Uh-huh." From her coworker's tone, Sky just knew this was the most interesting thing that had happened all week. She was going to want to know everything.

Normally, Sky took the subway to work. She never had trouble. She kept her earphones in and never made eye contact, and the people that went out of their way to get eye contact—skeevy guys—always regretted it. This time, she took a cab, never even sitting back in her seat as they neared the diner. When they arrived, she threw too much money into the front seat and didn't ask for change.

"Jess." She hoped her voice didn't have too much of a catch to it. When the woman looked up miserably, Sky felt her face drop. "Oh, no. What happened?"

"I…I…" Jess looked like she was barely holding it together.

"All right, come on."

"What?"

"This isn't a coffee conversation; it's a whiskey conversation." Which was true. Also, Sylvia and the cook were peering out of the kitchen, trying to hear everything that was going on. "Come on."

"I didn't—"

"Sylvia, could you put it on my tab?"

"Sure," Sylvia said, and her obvious interest reminded Sky of just how unusual this behavior was. Since when had she ever taken pity on a crying customer?

she wasn't sure she'd ever done that before.

"I'm so sorry," Jess said when they were outside. She was walking so docilely at Sky's side that Sky could only be glad she'd made it here in one piece. She made a prime mugging target—this time of night was no time to be walking around distracted.

"So what happened?" Sky asked again, softly. Her voice seemed unnaturally loud in the stillness.

"I told him…that I wanted to call the wedding off."

"You did?" Disbelief, and a rush of happiness Sky told herself she shouldn't feel. "What did he say?"

"He said of course, we could do anything I wanted." Panic was building in her voice. "Because he's _perfect._ "

Sky ignored that.

"He didn't get angry?"

"No. Well, I mean, a little. When I couldn't explain to him why."

"I thought you not wanting to be enough. But…wait." Sky stopped and stared down the other woman. "You didn't break up with him, did you?"

"I tried!" She burst out.

"Good God," Sky said disgustedly. "Come on, woman."

"You don't understand!" Jess buried her hands in her hair and clenched them. "It's not…he never fights. He says I matter too much to him. So it's never like I can say I want something, and he'll say he can't do it, and then we fight and we could break up. I guess I thought maybe this time it would be different. You know what's horrible? I went back there hoping that this would hurt him. Because if he was hurt enough, if his pride was hurt enough, I thought maybe we'd fight, you know?" She looked over at Sky, her face twisted. "That's the most awful thing to do to someone. I _hoped_ he was going to be hurt. I wanted him to be! And instead he just said he's willing to do anything."

Unexpectedly, Sky felt a wave of pity for the poor man. If she was two weeks away from this woman promising to love _her_ forever, stand by _her_ side forever, take care of her while she was sick and wake up with her in the morning…she would have done anything, too, she thought. It was ridiculous. She didn't know the first thing about Jess, not really, but that didn't change a thing. The first time Jess had looked up at her, Sky had been smitten.

"And everyone else loves him," Jess continued softly. "My friends, people who meet him on the street, my Dad." When Sky looked over, Jess hunched her shoulders. "My mom died when I was two. Dad raised me himself. I remember coming home from the library one day with this book on archaeology…" There was a half-smile on her face and her eyes were faraway. "And he gave me this look like he just wanted to cry. The next day when I came home, there was an old trunk of books in my room. My mom's. I guess she'd loved archaeology, too." She shrugged and looked away.

Sky said nothing, only pulled the woman into a nearby bar, pretty much deserted at this time of night. One of her friends was working, and she settled in a back booth, knowing two whiskeys would arrive soon.

"So everyone loves this dude," she said finally.

"Yeah."

"Is that why you aren't talking to them about this?" Because it occurred to Sky now just how ridiculous this was: a woman who had everything, confiding in a diner waitress she'd met once before.

"No," Jess said decisively after a moment. She looked up, and behind her matter-of-fact-demeanor, Sky saw loneliness that made her want to cry. "I went to call one of my friends so we could go talk it out over a bottle of wine and stay up until three or something just talking, and she'd convince me to follow my heart and…I realized that's not…I don't have any of those friends. I'm not even sure they exist. Maybe they're just something from romcoms."

Now she really did seem like a scientist; Sky could see her in a lab, taking careful notes on a notepad while staring at…an urn of some sort. She didn't have the first idea if archaeologists even used labs.

And that wasn't important right now.

"You don't have any friends to confide in?" She asked, and Jess shook her head resolutely.

"Is that sad? I feel like it's sad. I _thought_ I had friends. Darin's in finance and a lot of the guys he works with are terrible, but a few are nice, like him. Their wives are, too. They were really nice to me, even though I wasn't a stay at home mom or anything. And then there are the people I work with, and they're really nice, too. But I just realized, I don't think I've ever really _talked_ with any of them. And you can't just show up at someone's house or call or something and tell them your relationship is falling apart, only it _won't_ fall apart, and you don't know what to do-" Frustration was building in her voice and she sank her head down onto her crossed arms with a little inarticulate noise of frustration. Then she picked up her head and stared at Sky, biting her lip. "Only, I guess you can do that," she said softly.

"Maybe it's easier to talk to me because I don't know…Darin." Sky forced out the name. She shouldn't feel jealous of the man, not when he was shortly going to lose Jess—wasn't he?—but the fact that he'd been with her for years was enough to fill Sky with envy.

"Maybe it's that—" Jess broke off, looking away hastily. "Yeah, maybe it's that." She gazed out over the bar. "I know I have to tell him it's over. I just worked up all of the courage I had to tell him we couldn't get married, and then once it was over, and he said we'd work it out…I didn't have anything left. I told him I was going and I just…ran." There was a helpless sort of laugh building in her voice. "So on the plus side, he probably knows something is wrong."

All of a sudden, she was laughing, and Sky was laughing, too. Their shoulders shook as they tried to stay quiet, Jess reaching out for Sky's hands with one of her own, the other pressed over her mouth to keep the laughter in.

When they quieted, their hands were still laced together, and when their eyes met, the world shifted

"But still," Sky whispered. She met Jess's eyes. "Why _me_?"

Sky knew what she wanted to hear. She was ashamed of the pleading note in her voice. And when Jess's forehead creased in confusion, she wanted to scream.

"I don't know," Jess whispered.

Sky wanted to grab her and kiss her, pin her up against the side of the booth and run her fingers through that gorgeous brown hair, hear Jess moan against her mouth. She wanted to feel how soft those lips were, and the thought of Jess's first, tentative touches were enough to drive her mad.

 _Never be a straight girl's experiment._

It wasn't even that anymore. It was that Jess was in pain, and vulnerable, and if Sky took advantage of her, she'd spend the rest of her life wondering if Jess was going to leave when she figured everything out. Sky would turn into the fiancé promising everything, anything, just to make Jess stay. "I have to go."

Chapter Three

"Oh, come _on._ " Beth rolled her eyes. "You've been like this for weeks. You're turning into a hermit. I won't allow it. I can't let that happen to you."

"I just want to go," Sky said desperately, looking around the club. "I…"

"Don't like gorgeous women anymore?" Beth looked at her incredulously. "Because you've turned some down tonight that are so hot I want to cry myself to sleep."

"So you go talk to them!"

"Yeah, because _I've_ got a shot." Beth gave her a look.

Sky couldn't help herself, she snorted. With long legs and bright green eyes, auburn hair dyed white-blonde and arranged in an attractively-tousled pixie cut; Beth was easily one of the cutest women here. In fact, before they'd become friends, Sky'd had a huge crush on Beth. Their romance had been one kiss and one laughing fit, and they'd been friends ever since. Sky had watched Beth go home with more drop-dead gorgeous women than she could count, and in the meantime, the two of them confided everything in one another—everything, that was, except why Sky hadn't wanted to go out for the past few weeks.

Every night when she went to the diner, her heart was in her throat, scanning through the booths to see if Jess was waiting there. Some nights she woke up in a panic and checked her phone, wondering if they'd called and she hadn't heard. But there was nothing, no word, and Sky refused to try to search for one woman called Jess in Chicago.

"Come on," Beth said. "You gotta tell me what this is about. I'm dying, here."

"You're really that curious?"

"Hell yeah!"

"If you laugh," Sky said, pointing menacingly with her straw, "I'm out of here."

"Yeah, yeah, okay, I won't laugh."

Sky stared, lifting one eyebrow.

"I promise!" Beth held up both hands. "I swear. On…I don't know. I promise. Tell me."

"I fell for a straight girl." At Beth's guffaw, Sky stood. "That's it, I'm going."

"No, no, no, I'm sorry." Beth dragged her back into the booth. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…" A giggle escaped her.

"You're laughing again!"

"I, just…oh, come on, you have to admit this is kind of funny. You're the one who's always getting on people's cases for it: _never be a straight girl's experiment._ "

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up."

"Awww." Beth came to sit on Sky's side of the booth and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "You'll be fine, sweetie. You know that, right?"

"Yeah." She _was_ fine. She'd never find another woman like Jess, of course, but she was just fine.

"Cheer up. And anyway, if you're going to go for straight girls now, there's a lot of those. One just came in." Beth nodded her head towards the door.

"I'm not just going to…" Sky's voice trailed off.

It was Jess, standing awkwardly near the door as if she wanted to run, but was also trying to convince herself to stay. She'd managed to get herself into heels and jeans, and a top that made her seem even more like a scientist—there were sparkles and satin. It was a monstrosity, and it made Sky realize that maybe Jess didn't wear preppy clothes to be _preppy_ , she wore them because she had terrible taste, and it was hard to mess up a button-down shirt and jeans. It was one of the most endearing things she'd ever seen, and she found herself grinning as she looked over.

"Holy crap, is that _her_?" Beth slid out of the booth. "I'm getting out of the way. Go for it, chica."

"I don't think…"

"You know someone else will if you don't."

"I'm going!"

Of course, it was one thing to say, and another thing to do. Sky approached warily, wounded pride warring with a desperate desire to be seen, to have Jess look over at her. She told herself she would be happy even to speak with Jess one more time, and have Jess say goodbye.

And then Jess looked over and smiled, and Sky knew she was completely lost.

"I didn't expect to see you here." That was a reasonable sentiment. Good job, Sky.

"I, uh…" Jess looked at her, smile still tugging at her lips. "I hoped you'd be here. I knew it was a long shot. There was no reason to—well, anyway." She looked down at her shirt and frowned. "Do I look okay? Is this shirt—?"

"Terrible," Sky said bluntly. She started to laugh when Jess looked up, wide-eyed. "I'm sorry, it's just…it's terrible. _You_ look great. That shirt, though."

"Is it the sequins?" Jess pulled at it, frowning. "I liked the sequins."

Sky shut her mouth on the sentiment that she'd gladly go out with Jess with the woman wearing a brown paper bag. If Jess wanted to wear sparkly clothes, Sky would be happy with that, too.

"Why are you here?" She asked instead. She had to know. She had to…

"I…don't really know." The look in Jess's eyes said that she suspected the truth, but she was far from ready to put it into words.

It made Sky's heart sing. She reached out to take Jess's hand, thought better of it, and jerked her head to the bar. One drink later, they were in the shadows on the other side of the room, well away from Beth's prying eyes—if she was going to be shot down, Sky wanted it to be in relative privacy.

For a few moments, they didn't talk at all, and somehow it was still perfect. It was a sleepy morning with Jess reading the paper, or Sky shoveling cereal into her mouth wordlessly in her usual morning stupor. It was a quiet evening with both of them reading. What was between them, right now, did not need words.

But there were still questions.

"How have you been?" Sky asked finally.

"Well," Jess said, a bit too gratefully—as if she'd been searching for something to say. "How about you? What have you been up to?"

"You know, work." She felt obliged to add: "This is the first time I've been out in a long time."

"Yeah, I…" Jess tried a smile, curious. "I think I saw you over there with…" The question in her voice came through as she failed to find something casual to say.

"Beth is my best friend," Sky said, smiling. Her smile widened when she saw the relief in Jess's eyes.

"Oh, I, uh…" Jess nodded. "Cool," she added lamely.

"So you hoped I'd be here," Sky said finally. She couldn't keep the words back any longer. It felt like there was a bubble about to burst inside her chest. She couldn't seem to stop grinning.

"Um." Jess looked as if she was almost about to throw up, then her gaze met Sky's, and she nodded. "Yes," she said clearly. And then, in case there could be any doubt: "I was looking for you."

She reached out, tentatively. For what felt like an eternity, their lips hovered less than an inch apart. But she was at the edge of the cliff and Sky couldn't keep from leaping. She leaned forward and pressed her lips against Jess's, her fingers tangling in that dark, silky hair, drawing the woman close and feeling the jolt of electricity as skin met skin.

And Jess…Jess melted. She gave a little moan, her body softening to meet Sky's, hands fumbling for a place to rest, one against Sky's hip and the other, shyly, coming up to Sky's neck to pull her even closer. Her lips parted as she pressed herself close, and her eyes drifted closed.

The desire was so thick in her blood that Sky could hardly breathe. The woman's soft little moans were already driving her wild, and she wanted more, Jess's skin under her mouth, legs parting for Sky's fingers. What would she do when Sky first touched her there? The thought made Sky shudder, and the thought of Jess's exploration of her body was almost enough to make her come right there.

Dear God. She lay Jess back on the seat of the booth, settling between her legs and trying to hold herself up even as Jess pulled her down; eager hands tugging at Sky's coat, pressing on her hips. Jess's lips were eager, and she gave a pleased little gasp when Sky nipped at her bottom lip.

They were moving together, and they really should get back to Sky's place before they did something they regretted—in public, that was. _Never be—_ Oh, the rules could go to hell. Sky would have done anything, at that particular moment, to keep Jess in her arms.

"We should…" She broke off as Jess kissed her again. "We shouldn't do this here."

"I…" Something surfaced in Jess's eyes. Hesitation? Sky held the back of her head and kissed her until the woman's eyes fluttered closed again. Much better.

"We should go back to my place," she whispered.

"Oh." Jess's eyes opened, and she slid away. It was like someone had doused her with cold water. "Oh, I…Oh, God, what am I doing?"

The desire was slow to recede, but in its wake, Sky felt cold. She did not want to know what was coming, and yet she had to.

"Didn't you come here for this?" She whispered, and Jess nodded miserably.

"I did. I wanted…I wanted you," she finished finally. Her brown eyes were full of tears and her own longing. "I came here for you."

Just a few minutes ago, Sky would have given anything to hear those words. Now they chilled her, and she was pretty sure she didn't want to know what was coming next, either.

But Jess didn't have to say anything, because Sky could _see_ what was bothering her. She was twisting something on her finger—on the fourth finger of her left hand. A beautiful engagement ring. An engagement ring she was still wearing.

Chapter Four

"Oh, come on, you've got to talk to her." Beth dug into a plate of pancakes, and Sky gave her a look from behind the counter.

"First of all, no. I don't." She held up a finger when Beth opened her mouth to speak. "Ah! Don't interrupt. Second of all—well, second of all, don't talk with your mouth full."

"You're mean when you aren't getting laid," Beth muttered, and Sylvia bit back a laugh from the other end of the counter.

"I'm going in the back."

"No, no, no! I'm sorry! Come back. What else were you going to say?"

"I was _going_ to say that I know her first name and nothing else. Not her phone number, not anything."

"You said she's an archaeologist specializing in…what was it?"

"Western Chin urns."

"How many women named Jess can possibly be studying that? Hell, she may be the only person in the whole damned _world._ Is she dull? She seems like she'd be dull."

"Indiana Jones was an archaeologist," Sky pointed out.

"He's also not…what's the word I'm looking for… _real._ "

"Yeah, yeah." Sky shrugged. "And I'm a waitress. Not so exciting, either." She devoted her time to scrubbing at a spot of dried maple syrup—or what passed for maple syrup around here—and tried to avoid Beth's eyes.

Finally, though, Beth put down her fork and reached out to touch Sky's hand.

"Listen to me," she said quietly. "I've been giving you shit, but it's not…I'm not trying to be a jerk about it. You want to know what I think?"

Her voice was soft, no hint of mockery. Sky looked up.

"What?"

"I think I've never seen you like this before," Beth said bluntly. "All those other women, it's not like you were ever a bad girlfriend, chica, but you never loved them."

"I loved Sarah."

"No," Beth said quietly. "You didn't. You went through the motions. Hell, you've had your share of people you like, but you haven't ever seemed to be in love."

"You're right," Sky said finally. And then, in dawning horror: "Oh, God, I have _shitty_ luck."

"How d'you mean?" Beth took another bite of pancakes.

"You're kidding, right? First woman I actually fall for is straight, and engaged."

"She's bi, and yeah…she is. For now."

"I'm not going to go break up a marriage." Sky pointed the wet sponge menacingly at her friend. "I know they say fight for people, but that's bullshit. She's engaged. She didn't even leave him."

"Cut her some slack," Beth argued. "It's tough to leave someone, especially someone you're engaged to, and she's coming out to herself, probably, right now. She was already breaking things off with him when you first met her—so you're not ruining any relationship. You were just there. You threw a curveball at her when she already had enough to deal with, and it wasn't your fault; I know that, but…cut her some slack. And yeah, you know what? Fight for her."

"Fight for her _how_?" Sky demanded.

"Track her down and tell her what she means to you."

"What, pour out my heart so she can stomp on it?"

"That's the one." Beth took a sip of diner coffee and winced. "God, this stuff is terrible. Look. Sky. She might stomp on your heart. She might not. I don't think she will—but you're never going to be with anyone you love unless you give them the opportunity to stomp on your heart. It's just the way life is."

"You're a font of really depressing wisdom, you know that?"

Beth raised her coffee cup in mock salute as the door to the diner opened and cold air swirled inside.

Sky did not have to look up to know who it was. She could practically _feel_ Jess standing there, looking at her.

"I just remembered I have to go," Beth said. She was gone in a flash, easing past Jess on her way out the door. Weasel.

"Sky…"

"Go to hell." Sky's voice was shaking. She was happy with the sentiment, though. She liked to play tough, but Sky was never the type that could bring herself to say those things. Until now.

"Sky, please."

"Just go away."

There was a pause. Then:

"No," Jess said. Her voice was quiet, but there was no waver, no uncertainty. "I have to say something."

"Well, I don't have to listen."

"No. You don't. But I'd like it if you did."

"Fine." There was nowhere to storm off to, anyway. The kitchen was too small for her to hide there. "Just make it quick."

"Okay. I…" Jess took a deep breath, and Sky looked away. "That was really awful of me to do what I did. I came there looking for you—for what happened. I wanted it to happen. I felt like it was my only chance, because I was going to have to marry Darin and I didn't know how to…"

 _It's hard to leave someone._ Beth's voice echoed in Sky's head.

"Why _can't_ you just leave him?" Sky asked fiercely. "What are you afraid of?"

"What am I afraid of? How can you even ask that? I had everything I was supposed to want. I found the guy with no flaws, and we were going to build this perfect life together: a house, kids, and careers. We even wanted the same things for retirement. We were going to buy a houseboat and…not important. Sky…I had everything. I can't just throw it away."

"But you don't _want_ it," Sky shot back. "That's why you should give it up. You don't want any of it."

"That's what I'm afraid of!"

"Not…wanting it?" Sky stared at her. She'd wanted so many things over the course of her life that she hadn't gotten: a My Little Pony, the jeans that didn't make her look like a total dork—her mother had just as bad taste in clothes as Jess—a dozen crushes, to get into Yale… And she hated wanting things. How could Jess fear _not_ wanting something?

"When you know what you want, you know where to go," Jess said precisely.

Sky finally looked up and felt her heart sink. Jess was back in her jeans and button-down shirt. It was like every piece of tentative self-expression had been wiped away with that terrible top. She was back to the Jess she had been before: picture perfect.

"You want to have a plan." Sky sighed. Dammit, why did this make sense? She didn't want it to make sense.

"A plan. Yes. The world is a chaotic place, Sky—it's full of uncertainty. If you aren't careful, the world sucks you under and no one remembers…you were ever there. The way you keep from slipping away is you make a plan, and you follow it—and it keeps you above the chaos. I wanted to find someone who'd have my back, no matter what. Someone who'd know to look for me if something happened. If I step away from that now…"

"You have so much of your plan still," Sky argued. Despite herself, she leaned across the counter. "You have your job, you have…"

"What else? You remember what I told you? I don't have any friends, and if I throw this away I won't have a family, either. I'll be starting from scratch."

"You'll be free," Sky said finally. Her chest was heaving. "You'd be _free_ , Jess."

"Free is for people who are…" Jess waved her hands. "No one needs to free me."

"No one _can_ free you, except you. Look, maybe to you being stuck in a marriage you don't want isn't a big deal. But to me? Knowing I was going to wake up every day beside someone I didn't want would kill me. And the first time I met you, it looked like it was killing you, too. You don't want him. You want…" Her voice shut down, and she turned away. "You don't have to go for what you want," she finished softly. "I just don't get it."

"Don't you? Because you didn't go for it with me. You could've tracked me down, you had enough information. And it seems like you want me as much as I want you. So why didn't _you_ go for it?"

"That's not fair."

"Why the hell not, if you're throwing it in my face? Look, I came here to say I was sorry. I should never have dragged you into this. I shouldn't have. I just…I came to say that."

" _That's_ what you came to say. You…you came to say you're sorry for kissing me."

"Yeah." But Jess's eyes were searching hers. There was a pleading look there that Sky couldn't understand. "So I guess…I guess I should go then."

It was a question, and Sky couldn't figure out what the hell the answer was. She didn't even know what was being asked.

"I guess you should," she agreed finally. "If that's what you came to say. Because you said it."

"Yeah. I did." Jess stayed there, a question clearly frozen in her mouth. Then she left in a whirl, hurrying down the outside steps and running through the fall air towards the bus line.

"You idiot," Sylvia said quietly.

"What?" Sky rounded on her.

"She came here to say what she wants out of life, and you totally blew her off." Sylvia threw down a dishrag and rolled her eyes.

"She—no, she didn't." Sky looked out at the street. "…did she?"

" _Yes_ ," Sylvia said. "That was the whole, if you wanted her as much as she wanted you, why didn't you go for it _thing._ That was what she meant."

"Are you _serious_?"

"Christ almighty. Go. Go after her."

"I…" Sky looked out.

"What's the worst that could happen?" Sylvia asked her bluntly.

"She could say no."

"Exactly."

"No, you don't get it. I know where her fiancé's coming from. Sylvia…she could say no. And then what?"

"You'd pick yourself up and you'd move on," Sylvia said bluntly.

"Not from this."

"Then how do you expect her to, given that you just said no to _her_? Have some pity, woman."

"I…"

"Yeah. You just stomped on her heart. So what're you going to do about that, Sky?"

Chapter Five

"You're sure this is going to work?" Beth asked skeptically.

"There's a chance," Sky said. "And you were the one who told me to go for this.'

"I meant, you know…send a text or something."

"That would be a good plan," Sky said, fumbling with a ribbon, "if I hadn't just stomped on her heart yesterday."

"So you're getting her flowers? You're kind of…like a dude, you know. Just really clueless."

"I am not clueless." Sky rounded on Beth, her eyes alight. "I am very clever. _These_ are chrysanthemums. Chrysanthemums were very important in Chinese culture. I am paying attention to her interests."

"At any point in this, do you intend to talk to her?" Beth crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "Or were you just hoping she'd fall into your arms after seeing the flowers?"

"…I was kind of hoping for that, yeah."

"You should plan a speech."

"I'm busy trying not to throw up. If you don't stop trying to talk me down, you're going to succeed, and then I'll spend the rest of my life as a broken shell of a woman, always wondering what might have been. Do you want that? Do you?"

"That escalated quickly."

"Shut up and carry some chrysanthemums." Sky marched out to the car, a bucket of flowers in her arms. "I'm going to put them in her office, and when she comes in she'll see that I've been thinking about her and—"

"And I'll drive so you can come up with a speech," Beth said firmly.

She practically had to drag Sky out of the car when they reached the University, and hauled her inside over the woman's vociferous protests.

"Saying anything is better than just standing there like a dork."

"See, I don't think that's true. I can think of lots of things that would be worse."

"Then don't say any of those." Sky dragged her up to the receptionist's desk. "Hello, we're here to see Dr. Hansen."

"She's not here right now," the receptionist said. She was smiling.

"Well, can we…wait in her office? We have flowers."

"Oh! Did her fiancé send you?" The woman was beaming. "I tell you, he is the sweetest man. I could just—"

"Yes, that's very nice," Beth said, stomping on Sky's foot to keep her from saying anything. "And we need to deliver those flowers, so…"

"Well, I'd say maybe go to her house? There must have been a mix-up. You see, Dr. Hansen just eloped."

The bottom fell out of Sky's stomach. She almost doubled over, and she felt Beth's hands lead her to one of the chairs nearby.

"Uh, look. I know this is…crazy…but could you call Dr. Hansen and tell her there's an emergency? My friend really needs to talk to her.

"What kind of emergency?"

"It's…look, could we call from her office?"

"I…how about a conference room?"

"That'll work great." Beth followed her gratefully. "Could you dial?"

"Sure…" The woman pressed the numbers and melted away, and Beth thrust the receiver at Sky.

"You're up, kid."

"I…no, I don't want to talk to her."

"Hello?" The voice echoed down the line and Sky slammed the receiver down, trying not to cry. She could see Beth staring, and she doubled over, her face resting in her hands.

"She chose him," Sky said softly. "Her and me…that didn't mean anything."

"You're being crazy. There's something there, Sky, and the two of you can both run away from it if you want, but maybe you should give it a shot."

"We've known each other for a few weeks—"

"And sometimes one glance is enough. Please, Sky. Call her back."

"I…"

The phone began to ring. Sky stared at it, blood pounding in her ears. It rang once, twice, three times, and as if her hand was connected to someone else entirely, she stretched it out to pick up the receiver.

"Hello?"

"Hi?" Jess's voice came with the sound of wind. "Who is this?"

"It's, uh…" Sky took a deep breath. "It's Sky. I came by your office."

There was such a long pause that she thought the call had been dropped. She thought Jess had hung up. Out of the corner of her eye, Sky saw Beth melt out of the room. Where was she going? She was just putting down the receiver to go after her friend when Jess said quietly,

"There's nothing more to talk about."

"No. No, that's not true. Jess, I did something terrible. I gave up. I was so worried about you stomping on my heart, about you being the straight girl that just wanted to try something but wasn't going to follow through…that I didn't really think this could be real."

"Yeah." Jess's voice was quiet. "What was up with that?"

Sky smiled at the touch of humor. The scent of fresh flowers hit her nose and she turned to see Beth returning with one of the buckets of flowers. She shook her head in a question, and Beth only smiled and disappeared again.

"Jess. Please come talk to me."

"You're someone I just met. I don't…know that anything's going to work out with you."

"Yeah." Sky paused. "But you know it won't work out with him."

Silence. Beth entered with more chrysanthemums, put them down, and vanished again.

"Come on, Jess." Sky could hear the pleading in her voice and she did not even have the will to hide it. "Take the leap."

"What can you promise me?" Jess whispered.

Sky hung her head.

"Nothing. I don't have a plan for the rest of my life. But I know I want to give this a go. I know I've never felt like this before. What do you think?"

Silence, and a dial tone. Sky put down the receiver quietly, and sat staring at the phone. The door behind her opened, and she stood up.

"You can start bringing the flowers back to the car."

"But I like them," said Jess's voice.

Sky whirled around. There she was, in pale jeans and a white shirt, and some awful white headband with…yes, sparkles. Sky felt her chin tremble.

"You're supposed to be getting married right now."

"Yeah." Jess nodded. "I am. Sort of. But I was also supposed to get married a couple of weeks ago."

"So why'd you come back?" Sky asked her, and Jess shook her head. She was trying not to laugh—or cry, Sky didn't know which.

"Because you're the only one who didn't promise me anything," she said finally. "When I told people I was scared of the chaos and the uncertainty…they all tried to fix it for me. They tried to be my shield. Darin would have let me walk into a marriage he knew I didn't want. He told me today that he knew I didn't want to marry him."

"And you were still going to go through with it?" Sky heard her voice rising.

"Sky. No. Why do you think I was here? I broke up with him. For good."

"Good, because that's an awful thing to say to someone."

"No. He was just as scared as I was, I think. I guess I…I don't know. We both wanted to be that golden couple. We both wanted something safe, and I think he still does. But I…"

"Don't," Sky finished.

"No." Jess was smiling now. "Not anymore."

Sky crossed the room in three steps and swept the woman into her arms. Their lips met so hard that their teeth banged together, and Jess laughed; it was one of the most beautiful sounds Sky had ever heard. They went over backwards into the chrysanthemums and stems crunched in protest.

"We shouldn't be doing this in the conference room," Jess whispered, laughing helplessly.

"Shhh." Sky was giggling. "Here." She pulled Jess sideways and closed the door. "See?"

"That wasn't what I meant!" Jess dropped her head back, still shaking with amusement, but her giggles turned to a gasp of pleasure when Sky's lips touched her neck. "Oh, we really, really shouldn't…"

"Shhh," Sky said again. Her lips moved down to Jess's collarbone, and she felt the touch she'd dreamed about, Jess's hands on her hips, creeping up under her shirt. Their legs tangled together and Jess rolled, straddling her. She bent down to plant a kiss on Sky's lips, cupping her face gently between her hands.

"I was lost the moment I met you." Her whisper was soft, but it seemed to echo in the room.

"I was, too." Sky wrapped her fingers in the woman's shirt and pulled her down. When Jess's fingers fumbled at the clasp on her jeans, she felt her hips writhe. "Oh, God. What happened to 'we shouldn't do this here'?"

"As you said…shhh." Jess kissed her lips, her jaw, her neck, and her hands urged Sky's hips up so she could slide her pants down over her ass. She smiled up at Sky as she kissed one hipbone, letting her fingers drift over the fabric of Sky's panties.

"Oh, my God." Sky covered her mouth with her hands. She was sopping wet already, and she had to bite down on the heel of her hand to stifle a scream when Jess pushed the cloth away and slipped her fingers inside. "Haven't you ever heard of going slow?"

"We have plenty of time for slow later." Jess was laughing, her breath warm on Sky's skin. "Right now…I think we need to speed things up before we get caught. Don't you?" She laughed again at the blush in Sky's cheeks. "You like that idea, don't you."

"Just…a little." Sky let her eyes drift closed as the woman's fingers worked inside her. "Oh, my…how did you…"

"Shhh. Put your hand back over your mouth." And Jess dipped her head between Sky's legs, and Sky forgot everything else.

Chapter Six

"So what is this place, exactly?"

"A burial site." Jess bounded ahead, jumping nimbly over rocks and clambering across the rickety wooden bridges that spanned the dig. With her dark hair caught up under a wide-brimmed hat, and her clothing all shades of tan; she did indeed look a little like Indiana Jones. Minus the whip, of course.

Jess with a whip. Now, there was an interesting idea.

Sky caught herself staring out into space and shook her head to clear it. Something to bring up when they got back to Chicago. She hurried after Jess, looking down into the trenches to see what looked like an awful lot of dirt with some lumps.

"What's that?"

"Oh." Jess looked a little uncomfortable. "We think that's a servant. It's…human, anyway."

"Servants didn't get coffins?"

"Apparently not this one. I suppose it might have been a mourner, though. Some people would kill themselves at the burial site. Especially devoted concubines, for instance." She raised an eyebrow.

"Don't go expecting things like that from me," Sky said unrepentantly. "There is a line, and that is crossing it."

"Fine." Jess stuck her tongue out. "If I ever get to be Emperor of China, you do _not_ get to be my First Consort."

"Yeah, yeah. So is this what you're studying?" From the way Jess was hopping back and forth from foot to foot, she guessed it was. It did indeed seem to be some kind of vase, but beyond that, Sky could see nothing distinctive.

"Yes! And it's in perfect condition." Jess stared at it reverently.

"You used to look at me like that."

"Oh, shut up. Look here—see the way it curves in, and then out with that little lip? Very distinctive. And the glaze. You can only see a bit of it, but there's no other dynasty that did pottery this way. I…what?"

"You…look really happy." Sky stuck her hands in her pockets, grinning. "I've never seen this side of you before."

"I love this work." Jess sighed happily. "It took so long to get them to let us come out here and dig; they wanted an all-Chinese team to do it, but I sent them all my papers. I kept telling them how amazing the history was from this dynasty, and eventually they caved. Maybe they just didn't want to read anything more…"

"A distinct possibility." Sky grinned. "So where _is_ everyone?"

"Sleeping," Jess said patiently. "You remember that it's 6AM here, right?"

"Oh. Right." The sun was indeed just creeping over the horizon. "How long until breakfast?" Her stomach grumbled. The airplane meal had been unappetizing, to say the least.

"Eh, some people will be up soon." Jess started to walk back, looping her arm through Sky's. "So how are you? I'm glad you could come."

"Are you kidding? I wouldn't miss it for the world." Sky felt her face soften. "I _do_ miss you, though."

"I miss you, too. Trip of a lifetime, and I was really looking forward to it, when…well, before. Probably should have been a clue that I was happier about this than I was about going to Aruba for my honeymoon." Jess shrugged. "You know what?"

"What?" Sky couldn't help but smile. The woman's energy was infectious.

"I feel…free. All the time. Like the world is full of possibilities. I was so consumed all the time with worrying about what could go wrong, what might happen? And now…now I keep thinking about what to do next. I've always wanted to ride horses in the Midwest, and maybe take some Spanish classes. And go skydiving!" At the green color on Sky's face, her smile faded a bit. "Okay, so we won't go skydiving together."

"No," Sky said, a bit faintly. But she squeezed Jess's arm against her. "You do seem happier. I like that."

"And what about you?" Jess looked at her seriously. "I asked, and then I went off on my own thing."

"I'm…doing well."

"Beth says you're thinking about looking for a career in classics," Jess said hopefully.

"Beth needs to keep her mouth shut."

"Oh, come on! I think it's exciting."

"It is, but it's…terrifying."

"The worst that can happen is they say no." Jess gestured around herself. "And don't you take that for an answer. Look at this! If I'd accepted a no, neither of us would be here now."

"A good point. Oh…" She bit her lip. "I ran into Darin. I recognized him from a picture on…well, never mind. I shouldn't have brought it up."

"How's he doing?"

"I didn't ask." Sky laughed. "I don't think he knows who I am. But he was talking to some other guy in a suit. He said he's applying for a job in Dubai. He seemed really excited about it."

"He always wanted to go to Dubai." Jess looked off into the middle distance. "And he said he shouldn't because we needed to be stable, for the kids." She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and smiled lopsidedly. "I'm glad he's going. I'm glad there's no one standing in the way of his dreams anymore."

"You were hardly standing in the way of his dreams."

"We were both standing in the way of each other's. Some people can be really good people, but terrible together." She shrugged.

"How's everyone taking the breakup?"

"Surprisingly well, actually. My father says he hasn't seen me this happy in years. He'll be coming out here in a few weeks. I…thought you might not like it if you showed up and had to meet him."

They strolled across more of the bridges and into the cluster of tents that marked the campsite, and Jess beckoned Sky to follow as she ducked into hers.

"This is _nice._ " In fact, it hardly qualified as a tent at all. Sky had thought it was some version of a mess hall, but instead she saw a proper bed, a set of trunks, a bookshelf, a desk, and a bedside table with a real lamp.

"Yeah! Real bed. Let me tell you, this is a big step up from most dig sites. There you usually end up with some terrible one-person tent with two people in it, and you're covered with mosquito nets. Awful. This, though…I could get used to this."

She plopped down on the bed and gave a little sigh of happiness. "Don't you want to lie down?"

"If I lie down, I'm going to fall asleep." But Sky allowed herself to be tugged down on the bed, and she grinned when she felt Jess cuddle up against her. "This is nice."

"Mm-hmm." Jess tugged a blanket up to cover them in the early-morning chill, and then yawned. "Dammit, now I'm sleepy, too. Oof." She dragged herself up and patted Sky on the shoulder. "Well, you sleep. I'll be back with some food later."

"I don't want to…" But sleep deprivation was finally taking over, and Sky felt her eyes drift closed as the camp came to life around her.

It was mid-afternoon when she stumbled out of the tent again, and she found the archaeologists clustered around a table outside one of the other tents, all bent over a series of artifacts and exclaiming words that Sky had never heard before.

"It's the pile of bones we saw earlier." Jess detached herself and gestured. "They found a bracelet in there. It looks like it _was_ a concubine."

"I thought you were working on the urns." Sky yawned.

"I was, but…urns don't die dramatically." Jess shrugged. "You look…really pretty."

"What?"

"All tousled and sleepy. In fact…" She looked over her shoulder and bit her lip, then took Sky's hand and drew her back into the tent. "I think everyone's pretty distracted right now."

"And you say I'm the one with the fetish for getting caught," Sky whispered against her lips.

"We won't get caught if we're quiet." Jess caught her breath when Sky's fingers slid up under her shirt, and she lifted her arms so it could come off over her head. "I've missed you so much." Her head dropped back as Sky's fingers found her breast, dragging around one nipple. She gasped when Sky pushed her back onto the bed. "What are you—"

"Payback for the conference room." Sky grinned. "I'd cover your mouth."

"Evil," Jess breathed. But she only smiled when Sky pulled off her boots and pants. "What are you planning to…oh."

The woman's back arched as Sky's lips closed around her nipple, and her fingers tangled in Sky's hair to draw her head down. Her skin had tanned even through the linen shirt she wore, and her slim body writhed under the woman's ministrations. When Sky's lips trailed lower, tongue tracing across the line of her ribs, Jess pressed a hand over her mouth to stifle the sound of her moans.

"Oh, God."

"Mmm?" Sky knelt between her legs and slid two fingers inside, her thumb circling over Jess's clit while the woman whimpered, trying to hold in her cry of pleasure. "Do you like this?" When Jess did not answer, she pulled her fingers away.

"Yes, please, don't stop."

"Mm." Sky smiled and slid her fingers back in, dipping her head and setting to work with her tongue. She flushed with pleasure at the feel of Jess clenching around her fingers. She was close already, trying to stifle her cries so that her colleagues outside would not know what was going on just a few feet away—but her hips were writhing. She was losing control.

"Please…" The word was a breath, and her hands were at Sky's head as her hips pressed up in a plea for more. "Please, please…Oh, my God."

Sky felt her shudder as she came, both hands pressed over her mouth, toes curling, her breath coming in gasps. When at last her eyes drifted open, Sky bent down to kiss her.

"It's good to see you," she said cheekily. "You know, I—" Her words cut off as she was flipped onto her back.

"My turn," Jess said.

The End

 _ **Taming Her Dragon**_

 _ **Lesbian Romance**_

About the Story

They met on the first day of college: Lily was a punk rock kid with a horrible Mohawk and a smile that looked like dawn breaking, and Adira was a gorgeous redhead, terribly shy. They were friends for years, telling each other everything and sharing every triumph, every heartbreak. Then, over time, so slowly they didn't even notice it, they drifted apart.

Which was why, when they met again after months, neither one of them could believe the sparks that flew. Adira had known how gorgeous Lily was, but she'd never felt like this before: like she could fall into Lily's eyes, like she wanted to be with this woman forever. Too shy to admit how they felt, they planned a trip to Greece. A trip where maybe they could have the courage to say what they really felt.

But Lily bailed at the last minute. Because what Adira didn't know was that Lily had a secret. And not just any secret. Not just a tiny secret. Lily had developed the ability to shift into a dragon. And Adira might just be her mate. That is, if they survive the deadly trials every new dragon must face…

Chapter One

Adira peered into the hotel mirror, rubbing the last of the sunscreen into her pale cheeks. With her flaming red hair and pale, freckled skin, she'd be red as a lobster if she didn't take precautions. In fact, she thought wryly, she was so pale she might blind people if she wasn't careful.

She frowned at her reflection. She looked great—there was no problem there. With curves that wouldn't quit, a heart-shaped face, and startling blue-green eyes, Adira was guaranteed to draw eyes wherever she went, and even more so in her blue bikini. The problem was that there was no reason for her to look this good, because Lily wasn't here.

Adira, wandering back into the hotel bedroom, flopped onto one of the twin beds with a sigh. This was supposed to be her big chance, this trip. She and Lily had drifted apart since college, and even though they kept up a steady stream of texts and emails, they hadn't seen each other in months…until a few weeks ago, when they'd run into each other at the supermarket, and Adira had been sure the air between them was going to ignite.

How had she never noticed how gorgeous Lily was? Tall and slim, with honey-colored skin and big, dark eyes, Lily was almost exactly Adira's opposite. And there was something about her, in her self-possession and easy smile that was more enticing than any other woman Adira had ever met. Sometimes, it seemed, everything you were looking for really _was_ right under your nose. They had been friends long enough for Adira to know that Lily had it all: intelligence, a wicked sense of humor, kindness, and an absolute, unswerving loyalty to her friends.

Which made what happened next all the weirder. Giddy with their reunion, and with a growing heat between them, they'd made plans to come to Greece together. Adira had noticed that Lily was growing distant, but she'd explained it away in her head: work stuff, maybe, or her family being weird. It could be anything. They would talk about it over a bottle of wine one night, watching the sun go down, and then share a kiss. That was the plan, anyway, and when they were together, everything about Lily suggested that she, too, was hoping for more than a friendship.

And then, standing at the airport and ready to board the plane, Adira had gotten a text:

 _Can't make it to Greece. I'm so sorry, Addy. I'll be gone for a while._

None of that even _sounded_ like Lily. Adira had called the woman's brother, James, one year younger and always the closest of the siblings. He seemed baffled. Nothing was wrong with Lily, he told Adira. She had some big work trip that had come up suddenly, but he didn't know anything more.

Work trip. Lily was a teacher, for heaven's sake. Why was she going on a multi-month work trip? What teacher had work trips come up so suddenly? And why hadn't Lily called, or sent an email, or anything? Adira had felt it like a punch in the gut, and as she sat in her first class seat—a present she hadn't told Lily about, she wanted to cry, not least of all because she was still hoping Lily would show up.

She hadn't, and now Adira was in Greece alone.

Great.

Well, she wasn't going to sit in the hotel room and cry about it. She had _some_ pride. She was going to go out to the ocean and swim, then get gloriously drunk at the dinner she'd planned for her and Lily. With only one person to pay for, after all, she had more money for wine. That was a _totally_ healthy way to deal with this. Right?

Right. She picked herself up off the bed and wrapped a sarong around her waist, slipping out of the hotel room and making her way through the halls with a tiny smile at all the heads she turned. Lily, she told herself firmly, didn't know what she was missing out on.

On the beach, Adira laid out her towel and sarong, kicked off her flip flops and waded out into the blue-green water. With a clear sky above and a light breeze, the day was perfect. She should have been spending it with Lily, but…she couldn't. That was it, that was all. She dove under the water and came up grinning. The water was warm, and with salt dripping through her hair, she felt like a little kid again. She didn't have anyone to impress with her careful side bun. It didn't matter if she splashed around like an idiot.

Maybe this vacation wouldn't be so bad. It was miles better than a cubicle, at any rate. She turned onto her back and floated, staring up at a few wisps of cloud moving lazily across the sky. Buoyed up by the water, the sound of the beach fading away in her ears, she could feel her troubles melting away. No work to do, no obligations to see anyone, a posh hotel room all to herself… And when she got back, Lily would have sent flowers or a card, perhaps one of her earnest letters saying how sorry she was to have let Adira down. There would be a good reason, because there always was with Lily. Lily didn't flake out on her friends for no reason at all.

Thinking about her, though, had been a mistake. Adira felt her nipples tighten, and a low pulse of pleasure between her legs. She swallowed, suddenly breathing hard. She shouldn't think about it, not here—still, there was something deliciously naughty about drifting here, near a bustling beach, no one knowing what she was thinking of. She felt her hips squirm slightly.

For weeks, she had been imagining what Lily's lips would feel like. Her lips were a perfect bow, and a deep rose pink even without lipstick. Adira couldn't see her without imagining how those lips would feel, soft, pressed up against hers, or at her neck, her collarbone, wrapped around a nipple…or between her legs.

She flailed and stood up in the water, taking a deep, shuddering breath. She really _couldn't_ think about this out here. Snatching up her towel and her flip flops, she almost ran back to the hotel, skidding across the lobby and hurrying up the stairs to slam the door of her room behind her.

There, in the silence, she allowed a tiny moan to escape her lips. She had been thinking about this since she first saw Lily again. She couldn't help it. Lily had always been attractive, always the sort of woman Adira thought was out of her league, but she had somehow not really fallen for her until now, and there was no resisting it.

She had to shower. Adira stripped off her bikini and bit her lip. She had to shower because she had been in the _ocean_. That was why. Not anything else. Nothing…naughty. She flushed at the thought of running her hands all over her body right now. She was too turned on for that not to turn into something else.

Then again, why shouldn't it? No one else was here. The hotel was quiet, everyone else off at tourist sites and browsing the shops. And the rooms were pretty soundproof, if last night had been any indication. Adira could do whatever she wanted.

Her blood heating, she turned on the shower and slipped in. She took time to rinse out her hair, lathering shampoo into it, rubbing her fingertips over her scalp so that every last bit of work tension melted away. Lily would be doing this if she was here. Lily would have rubbed sunscreen over her back and around her sides, skimming the edges of the bikini top, both of them trying to pretend they weren't flirting and failing hopelessly for each other. When they came back from the beach, they'd undress together because they were friends, nothing more…

If she were here, it would be Lily's hands rubbing the soap into a lather and running all over Adira's body, slick over her arms, down the hourglass of her back, over her legs and back up, around the curve of her ass. Soapy hands would slip around to cup Adira's breasts, and she would feel Lily's body pressed up against her back as one hand played with a nipple and one hand slid downward, slipping between her legs.

As Adira slipped her fingers into herself, she felt herself shudder at how wet she was, slick and hot inside. She was moaning already, moaning as she would if Lily were here, wishing she could brace herself on the back wall and feel Lily's fingers slip into her from behind. She wanted to kneel on the floor, mouth between Lily's legs, hearing the woman moan. She would make her come right here in the shower, shuddering…

The thought almost made Adira fall over, her knees were so weak. She wanted to know how Lily would sound. Would she be loud? Would she bit her lip to keep from moaning? Wondering was enough to drive her crazy; it would be perfect, whatever she did, because Lily was perfect.

Her skin was on fire, her legs still weak, her fingers playing, circling, thrusting—

Adira's eyes snapped open. She had definitely heard something outside in the room. Reality returned in a rush; someone had broken into the room. She was going to die. She looked around desperately for something to use as a weapon and there was only a tiny bottle of shampoo.

Oh, God, oh, God.

"Hello?"

The voice stopped her in her tracks. Adira reached over to wrench the lever and turn the shower off, then stuck her head out from around the curtain. It couldn't be.

" _Lily_?"

"Hi." Lily hunched her shoulders nervously. She was just in jeans and a tee-shirt, her eyes shadowed with jet lag, but she looked absolutely perfect. "Uh…sorry I interrupted your shower. I was able to come at the last minute."

The woman of her dreams five yards away and no privacy for the release she so desperately needed. This was going to be a special kind of hell.

Chapter Two

"So." Adira emerged from the bathroom, a green sundress showing off her curves to great advantage and her hair artfully arranged into a French braid. She looked the perfect mix of alluring and innocent, or at least she hoped she did—she had to get Lily into bed, or she was going to go crazy. She was still wet, and the sight of Lily lying on the Queen bed wasn't helping.

Though the Queen bed itself would be useful, or at least Adira hoped so.

"So." Lily looked over at her and raised her eyebrows. "You look nice."

"Thanks." Adira hoped she wasn't blushing. "Vacation clothes. So, um…wow."

"Wow?" Lily was still staring at her. Then her face got guarded. "Look, I'm really sorry about before."

"It's okay," Adira said simply.

"What?"

"It's okay. I know you were busy. You wouldn't ghost out for no reason. Your brother said it was a work trip?"

"Right," Lily said, too quickly. "Yeah. Work."

"Where did they want you to go?" Adira looked determinedly into her purse, pretending to search for something.

"Um…" Lily's voice trailed off. "It's not important. I decided to come here," she finished, with false bravado. "So that's that. What do you want to do today?"

"Are you up for anything? You look pretty jet lagged."

"Oh. Yeah, I guess. But I'm up for it." Lily sat up, a smile creeping through her obvious unease. "I've really been looking forward to this. I don't want to spend this time napping when I could be with you."

Adira paused, almost comically. She felt like a deer in the headlights. She couldn't think of anything to say, and eventually coughed out a reply of some sort. It sounded halfway between a bark and a laugh.

She was never, ever going to score with this woman, was she?

Luckily, Lily took pity on her.

"Let's go get something to eat."

"Yes." Adira seized on that gratefully. "There's a kebab vendor nearby. Rice, pita, lamb…it's amazing."

"Sounds great." Lily grabbed her purse.

A scant few minutes later, trying to eat pita sandwiches without spilling rice down their fronts, they found themselves back near the beach. Wind blew wisps of Lily's dark hair back, and the woman sighed with pleasure.

"I've needed this," she said, looking over. "I can't believe how long it has been since we actually hung out, you know? It always seemed like college was just last year, and then I saw you and I realized it's been…" She sighed.

"Long enough to make us both feel old, anyway." Adira grinned over at her. "I don't even really know what you've been up to, you know. I mean, work, but…how's it even going? Do you still make pottery? Are you seeing anyone?" She hoped the last question sounded reasonably casual.

"In order: fairly well, yes, and…no." Lily looked away.

"What's wrong?"

"It's not a big deal. It's just…so, I was seeing someone."

"Uh-huh." Adira muffled her jealousy in a much-too-large bite of her pita.

"And her parents didn't approve, and…well, long story short, she broke up with me. And it wasn't even like we'd been going out very long. But she was smart, and pretty, and even if…"

"Even if what?" Adira pressed her lips together so she wouldn't say that this woman was the stupidest person she'd ever heard of. Who'd voluntarily pass on a relationship with Lily? _Lily_ , for God's sake.

"Well, the stupidest part is, I wasn't even all that crazy about her." Lily finished her sandwich and looked over at Adira briefly. "It just felt like she was the perfect person, and if she was so perfect and I couldn't get into her, and if she was so smart and she couldn't understand that there was nothing wrong with liking me…what was the point in even trying anymore?"

"You can't think that." Adira looked over at her, open-mouthed.

"What?" Lily sighed. "Look, I know it's dumb, it's just…it's been so long since I've been crazy about someone, and then I found someone—someone perfect."

"If you weren't crazy about her, she wasn't perfect for you." She tried to keep disappointment from her voice. Lily didn't want a relationship right now, and she'd just have to live with it.

"It wasn't her I was talking about." Lily looked over at her, and Adira's breath caught in her throat."

"Um. What?" Her voice was all weird and high. Good grief.

"I…" Lily's cheeks flamed. "Nothing. Let's just say…let's say I'm kind of a coward when it comes to dating now."

"You're going to find someone," Adira assured her. "Lily, you've got everything. You're gorgeous, you're kind, and you're smart. You're the type of woman anyone would be lucky to grow old with."

They stopped. The wind was blowing their hair into their eyes and Adira wanted to sink through the sand, or run back to the hotel room and lock the door—anything so that Lily wouldn't be able to see her. And yet she couldn't move, and some part of her didn't even want to. She wanted nothing more than to keep staring into Lily's eyes, no matter how terrifying it was.

They broke at the same time, looking away and clearing their throats. Adira's cheeks were flaming. She cast about for something, anything, to say.

"So what was this big work trip?"

"Nothing," Lily said at once. "Not important."

"You said you'd be gone for a while."

"It's not a big deal."

"Oh, come on." Adira nudged her with her elbow, trying to lighten the mood. She wanted to see Lily's smile again, wanted to understand why the woman had gone from awkward and beautifully shy to withdrawn and cold. "Hey. It me. What's wrong?" A laugh burbled up suddenly. "Oh my God, did you even tell them you weren't going, or did you just skip out to come to Greece?"

But the look Lily turned on her was haunted. Her dark eyes seemed miles deep and full of pain, and she looked like she had no words at all.

"Lily?" Adira stopped, taking her friend's hands. Something was terribly wrong, she could see it, and she couldn't think what it would be. "It's all right. Whatever's wrong, it's going to be all right."

"It's not going to be all right." Lily took a deep breath. There was a sheen of tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to—" She broke off and looked away. "I thought I'd get away from everything, and I'm beginning to think that's not possible. I should go."

"Wait!" Adira caught Lily's hand. "Wait. Please. Look, I don't know what's going on, but…" She paused, and let her dreams of a quiet, flirty vacation evaporate into the summer air. "Look, if you need to forget…well, whatever you need, I'm here. Why don't you go swimming? Being here, with nothing to do…it can only help, right? I'll be here or leave you alone, whatever you want."

"You're wonderful." Lily managed a smile, but her lips were trembling.

"You're scared," Adira whispered.

"I'm terrified. Addy…something's really wrong." Her voice rose to the squeak of a suppressed sob.

"Oh, my God. Are you sick?" Her head was filled with terrible visions: Lily in a hospital bed, or alone in her house listening to a doctor give her bad news.

"No, I…" Lily shook her head. Then she stopped, looking over the sea. She seemed to make up her mind about something. "Yeah. I'm sick."

"And you've just let me chatter on about relationships?" Adira asked, horrified. "Oh, God. I'm so sorry, Lily. Do you want to talk about it?"

"No!" Her voice was panicked. "No. I just have to…deal with it. I think it'll be okay. I really do. And look, all I want is to have a normal discussion. Relationships, jobs, whatever. It's what I wish my life could be right now. Even with stupid girlfriends." She managed a watery laugh.

"Well, listen…why don't we go get some cake and a bottle of wine sent to the room, and you can talk about it or not, or talk about whatever you want." Adira linked her arm through Lily's. "Can you _have_ wine and cake?"

"What? Oh. Yeah, it's not that kind of sick." Lily waved a hand. "Just…Addy."

"Yeah?" She felt her pulse race at the sound of her nickname, and hated herself. Her friend was sick and needed help, and she couldn't stop thinking about how pretty she looked.

"Just don't talk about the sick thing, okay? Not this week. Not…to my family."

"Okay." Adira nodded automatically, but the more she thought about it, as they walked back to the hotel, the more confused she was. Lily's family was close, and Lily had always been the type of person who shared everything with her friends. Why on earth would she want to keep this to herself?

"All right. So. What do you want to do tomorrow?" Lily nudged Adira in the ribs, playfully. Now she was the one looking worried.

Adira couldn't let her be worried. Not when she was sick. She swallowed back all of her questions about what the sickness was, and tried to think of tourist sites.

"Apparently there are some ruins at the top of the hill that aren't in any of the guide books," she offered. "Some kid recommended them to me. It was weird, you weren't here yet, but he said I should go with my friend." She shrugged. "He must have mistaken me for someone else."

"Weird." Lily frowned. "Well, that sounds fun, though. Let's go do that. Tomorrow, though. After wine. And a nap. And Addy?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for being here. I…really need a friend right now." Lily managed a smile, and Adira tried to smile, too.

A friend. She needed a friend. Well, she'd always known Lily was out of her league.

Chapter Three

Adira struggled up the rocky hillside, checking her arms regularly to see if she was burning. They'd only been outside for an hour, but it felt three times as long. The easy hike the little kid had mentioned to her was beginning to seem more and more like a prank; she wondered if there would even be ruins at the top of the hill when they got there.

But she didn't want to say anything to Lily. Wine and cake the night before had given way to Lily staring quietly out at the ocean, sunk in some kind of reverie that Adira didn't even try to break. They had hardly spoken, Adira falling asleep on her own bed as she watched Lily's silhouette against the sunset, and waking sometime past midnight with a blanket draped over her and Lily's snores in the other bed.

She lay awake for a very long time, thinking. Was this why Lily had been so withdrawn? A breakup would be bad enough, but to have it followed by some diagnosis… Adira had heard stories of people who told their family and friends they were going on vacation instead of admitting to surgery. That must have been what Lily was doing, trying to keep them all from worrying about her. Sometime this week, Adira vowed to herself, she would tell Lily just how much she meant to everyone—and how they would want nothing more than to be there for her.

There just hadn't been a good opening yet this morning. Under a blue sky and blazing sun, Lily seemed to come alive. She was whistling as she walked, darting nimbly over fallen rocks. Her family was Greek, Adira remembered—and somehow, even in jeans and a tank top, Lily seemed part of the landscape, a natural inhabitant of the sun and rock and scrub brush. She was at home here, and so happy that it would have been cruel to bring up the sickness.

"Addy!" Her call was half-muffled by the wind. She pointed up the hill. "Look!"

Adira let out a sigh of relief. There, at the top of the hill, she could just make out a tumble of carved rock—a toppled column, if she had to guess. So there _was_ something here after all. She took a long gulp of water and pushed her aching muscles back into action with renewed enthusiasm.

"Not much of a hiker?" Lily asked her when she caught up. Her grin was wicked, not mocking. Lily had a way of poking fun at people without being cruel.

"Is it obvious?" Adira grimaced.

"Just a little." Lily patted her on the shoulder. "Come on, it's only a little farther. Addy, why did you suggest hiking if you hate it so much?"

"I do not _hate_ it," Adira said with an attempt at dignity, "I just…"

"Hate it?" Lily finished, with a giggle.

"Fine. Yes. I remembered you liked it."

Lily stopped at that, looking over. "Wait…you did this for me?"

"Yeah." Adira hunched her shoulders at the woman's stare. "Come on."

"Seriously?" Lily asked as they walked. Her tone was unusually soft. "Addy, you don't need to do things like this just for me."

"We were going on vacation. Hiking helps you relax. It makes sense." _And all I want is to make you smile._ She bit her lip on those words.

"Still. Thanks, I guess." Lily opened her mouth to say something, and then stopped short as they crested the hill. "Oh my _God_."

"Holy…" Adira's mouth fell open. From the toppled column, she had expected a ruin like the ones she'd seen in guidebooks: dusty and sand colored, the statues missing limbs or noses or heads, the blocks worn away, not much more than a foundation to show that anything had ever been here.

This temple was almost whole. The marble still shone white and smooth, as if untouched by the elements, and the half-roof showed no cracks, providing generous shade across the floor. Carvings in the walls might have been made yesterday, they were so freshly carved. And…

"How did we not see this from the main boulevard?" Adira asked, shaking her head. "I can't believe it."

"It is weird." Lily had been walking around with a half-smile, amazement and wonder on her face. Now her expression fell and her mouth snapped shut. "Look, I don't…I think we should go."

"Why? I bet they're going to try to pass it off as an ancient ruin sometime soon and charge for it or something. You think they just built it and they pay the kids to spread the word so it becomes some under-the-radar thing?" Adira ran her fingers over some of the carvings. "God, these are _beautiful_. I don't even care if it's fake."

"Addy, I really think we should go." Lily's voice was beginning to get panicked.

"There's no one else here," Adira said gently. "And look—look at the sea."

"Oh, wow." Lily's frightened expression faded for a moment. "Wow. Look at that." She bit her lip.

The sea spread before them in a glittering fade of aqua to a rich, warm navy blue. Sunlight caught on the faint stir of waves. The forests on part of the island waved, a bright green. It was perfect, the white sand beach almost untouched…

Courage came with the sea breeze.

"Lily?" Her voice was breathy, unsure.

"What is it?" Lily looked around herself. "I think you're right, it's fine here. I feel…calm."

"It's…not that." Adira took a deep breath. She was pretty sure she was going to throw up from nerves. "Look, I need to tell you something."

"What?" Lily frowned. Her eyes were worried. "Are you sick? Oh my God, is that why you asked? Oh, Addy—"

"I'm not sick," Adira said hastily. "It's just…so I invited you on this trip."

"Yeah?"

"And, well…huh." Deep breaths. "So, we've known each other since what, freshman year?"

"Yeah. God, we were so young." Lily laughed in memory. "I still thought I could pull off a Mohawk."

At that, Adira did laugh. Lily might be drop-dead gorgeous, but she certainly hadn't looked good with her hair spiked all up. With her slim frame and classic features, she seemed like the perfect type to pull off a punk look, but it just hadn't worked for her. She was the type who should have had flowing robes and a golden circlet in her hair. Looking at her now, in this temple, Adira could almost see it—Lily as a priestess to some forgotten deity, robes blowing in the breeze…

Lily was staring at her, waiting for her to speak. She cleared her throat hastily.

"Uh, right. So we've known each other for a long time. And you were always one of my best friends. And I've been able to tell you anything—I thought."

"You can," Lily assured her, having no clue at all how much her words made Adira want to run back down the hill without even a goodbye.

The more she said, the more time she had to consider how terribly Lily might react to her confession. She could fly home. Or slap Adira in the face. Or yell.

"Well, the thing is…" She really was going to throw up. She was definitely going to throw up. "So, we saw each other a few weeks back. And I don't know what happened, I really don't. You were a friend. But now—oh, God, Lily. I think I'm falling in love with you."

The words dropped out of her mouth into silence, and Lily stared at her, lips parted in surprise, her black eyes wide.

"You…you do?" She looked so uncertain that Adira didn't know what to say.

"I shouldn't have said that. You can forget it. We can pretend it never—"

"Addy. _You_?" Lily sounded almost lost. "You want me?"

"Well…yeah!" Adira waved her hands. "Look at you, you're—you're perfect!"

"What?" Lily's voice rang out in surprise. "Are you kidding me? I'm all awkward and…I'm not rich or…I don't know, I don't have a great career. I'm still an assistant teacher and it's been years and…" Her voice trailed off and she swallowed hard. "Addy, you're not joking with me, are you? You're not just saying this to make me feel better or something?"

"No. I guess I shouldn't have said it." Adira looked away. She felt lost, she couldn't even feel the floor. "I'm really sorry."

"No. No, you should have. You shouldn't be sorry. I just can't believe it. You've always had people falling all over you. I never thought you'd be interested in me. When I saw you again, it was crazy—I remembered how drop-dead gorgeous you were." Lily bit her lip. "God, I wish things were different."

"What do you mean?" Adira whispered.

"I mean," Lily whispered, "I mean it can't happen right now. Addy, I'm so sorry. But there's just too much going on. I know that's a lame excuse and it's something people say when they don't actually want to be with someone, but you _have_ to believe me—I want it more than anything. If there was any way, I would move mountains to be with you." Her face twisted. "I just can't."

"Why not?" Adira asked. She shook her head. "Lily, I don't care about any of it. If you're too busy to see me any more than once a month, that'll be enough. If it's just texting, that's enough. If you want me there at the hospital, it's not like we're starting from zero, we've been friends for years. There isn't anything I wouldn't do to be with you. If you feel the same, we'll make it work. No matter what's going on."

"We can't." Lily shook her head, a tiny jerk of a motion. "You just have to trust me on that."

"No. You trust me. Trust what we both know." Adira reached out and cupped the woman's face in both hands, drawing her close. Their lips hovered hardly an inch apart, and she saw desire twisting in Lily's eyes. "Trust me," Adira whispered again.

Chapter Four

The kiss was light and fleeting. Adira drew back at once. The actual sensation, the press of Lily against her, was breaking the illusion. Something was wrong, and this was no fantasy—nothing could be wished away with a kiss. But Lily grabbed her and pulled her back, fingers tangling in Adira's fiery hair, Lily's own hair blowing loose around them in the breeze.

The sound of footsteps broke them out of their reverie. Light and quick, the tread of someone else made its way of the path, rocks slipping out from below feet and clattering away down the slope. They clung together, fingers tightening around each other's arms, Lily's hand clenched. Why they felt such a feeling of dread, Adira couldn't say. The breeze was still blowing, the sun shining just as brightly. And yet…

When the child came around the edge of the temple, Adira let out a breath.

"Hello."

He nodded.

"Who is this?" Lily asked, low and worried. She drew back from Adira, her eyes locked on the child.

"He told me about the temple," Adira said, confused. She shrugged. "He must have come to see if we would find it."

"So you see the temple," the boy observed. His voice echoed strangely around the room, sounding almost like that of an old man, and it occurred to Adira that he had no accent at all. His English was perfect.

"Of course we see it," she said lightly. Maybe his English _wasn't_ perfect. Maybe he just didn't know what he was saying.

"Oh, my God," Lily whispered all of a sudden. She whirled, looking at the carvings on the walls. "Oh, no. No, no. It can't be."

"Remember," the boy told her, his eyes fixed on her, "you came here freely. You came of your own volition."

"I was tricked!" Lily yelled at him. She turned back, her eyes pleading. "You can't. You told _Adira_ about this place, not me. I would have known you for what you were. I would have seen the truth. It's not fair!"

"What's going on?" Adira demanded.

"Go," Lily told her urgently. "Go back to the hotel, and get your passport, and go home. Please, Addy. Don't look back."

"What the hell?" Adira demanded. "You can't be serious."

"And she can't leave," the boy said. In front of Adira's incredulous eyes, he began to change: he grew taller, broad-shouldered, a dark beard appearing on his face, and then he began to shrink once more, grey in his hair, and then white, stooped over. He was laughing, and Adira thought wildly that this must be a dream. It couldn't be real, things like this weren't real.

"You will let her go," Lily said, through gritted teeth.

"That's not in my power." The old man smiled. "The bond between a dragon and its mate is stronger than any magic I can call."

"Dragons?" Adira managed. She was going to faint. Which would be good, because then she'd wake up, right?

"Don't listen to him," Lily said wildly. "He's speaking nonsense. None of it's real."

"Oh, that's what you'll try? A piece of advice, woman: never try to hide something from your mate. They always know the truth." He paused, looking out to sea contemplatively. "Of course, it won't matter. I can't see you surviving the trials."

"What?" Lily's face had gone grey.

"I warned you. I warned you of the world you were entering, and you said—"

"I was twelve!" Lily cried. "I didn't know what I was agreeing to."

"But you did agree. You kept the artifact. You let it change you. Magic is a part of the world, dragon, and like the world, it does not recognize fair or unfair, young or old. You stood before me and you swore that you wanted to be a dragon. You never called me back to recant."

"I didn't..." Lily wavered, anguished. "I didn't think it was _real_."

"Did you not trust your own memories?" the old man asked tartly. "Did you think your own eyes deceived you?"

"Yes! Dragons don't exist. They can't. _You_ can't. You're a…trick of the light."

"Oh? Then how do you explain this temple, in full view of the city and yet untouched? How do you explain the way you feel here, as if your inner self is calling out to be freed? How do you explain what is happening between you and the human?"

"You leave her out of this!" Lily screamed. She rounded on Adira. "You have to run. You have to run now."

"It is far too late." The man did not even sound upset. "You should have known better than to bring her here. Better the two of you wandered forever, wondering what you had lost and why you never felt whole, than you came to this place and sealed the bond."

"Sealed _what_ bond?" Adira demanded.

"It's not important," Lily said. Her eyes were panicked.

"It _is_ important!" Adira strode in between the two of them, her eyes flicking back and forth between the two. "We came up to this place that really can't exist, can it? And then _he_ shows up and turns from a little boy into an old man, and I _saw_ that part, and now you two are talking about dragons and mates and artifacts. I want to know the truth. I want to know what's going on."

Lily was backing away, shaking her head. She bit her lip, unable to speak.

"You must know now that there is magic in the world," the man offered finally, when Lily still could not speak. "You have just seen some of it. You are standing in a place that, according to you, cannot exist. From there, you should be able to figure the rest out."

"Don't talk anymore," Lily said finally. She was staring at him with hatred. "Don't say another word. Let her go. Adira, please, do one thing for me."

"What?" Adira whispered.

"Look away."

And she did. She would have done anything for Lily. So she did not see the transformation that occurred. She only heard it: scales scraping on stone, claws clicking, the huff of air through large nostrils, and the leather flap of wings. A backdraft of air knocked Adira to the ground, and when she turned, Lily was gone. A shadow flitted across the landscape and she froze, wanting to run and look out, and wanting—at the same time—to keep her promise.

"She was right, you know." The man looked at Adira with something she thought might be pity. "You should leave. You should have left. And you should have listened to her when she told you that the two of you could not be mates. You have doomed yourself by sealing the bond between you."

"Doomed _what_?" Adira asked savagely. "I love her. I've loved her for years. I can't stop thinking about her."

"Then you are already lost," the man said sadly. "But you do have a choice. Follow her wishes, girl, and go back home. Go without her. Try to forget her."

Adira stared at him for a long moment. She could hear the pain in Lily's voice, the whisper that she was sick, that something was really wrong. She had wanted to go away, not burden anyone with this impossible curse she bore. And it was Adira who had made that impossible. It was Adira who had brought her here to the temple. It was Adira who had made everything go wrong.

"No," she said finally.

"What?"

"I said no. I'm not leaving her to face this alone. Not the part where she's a dragon— _apparently_ —and certainly not whatever that trial thing is you mentioned."

"And what help do you think you'll be to her in the trial?" the man demanded of her. "You are a human. You will be worse than useless."

"That's what you think," Adira hissed. She whirled and ran out of the temple, the way Lily had gone.

Of course, storming out would have been more effective if she knew where that was. She looked around herself worriedly. Lily wouldn't have gone back to the hotel, and she likely wouldn't have tried to fly toward the mainland. Which meant she must have gone out to sea…or up to the other mountain crag. Adira looked at it, her poor distance vision making her eyes scrunch as she searched for any sign of movement.

But she didn't need it, not really. As if she could hear a heartbeat, a high note of shared consciousness, she could _feel_ Lily's presence there. Lily was alone. She was scared. She needed help. Adira set out determinedly, making her way down the ridge that ran between the two mountains, a sharp peak of rock that might, she could see already, be impossible to scale.

She would work on that when she came to it. Cursing her choice of cute sandals, she brushed her hair purposefully over her shoulders and stepped carefully, her arms out for balance.

 _You'll never make it to her in time._ The old man's voice was whispering in her head.

"Shut up," Adira told him.

 _You'll get her killed in the trials._

"I won't," Adira whispered back desperately.

 _What do you think you can possibly do to help her? He demanded finally._

"I can show her she's not alone!" Adira screamed at the sky. She turned, looking up, looking for the source of the voice. "I can show her that I still love her, that this isn't the end, and that she has someone to fight for her. So you can fucking well get out of my way, because I am going to find her."

She waited, but the man said nothing more, and with a satisfied nod, Adira set off on her way again, her eyes fixed on a high cave in the side of the mountain.

Chapter Five

She stumbled along over roots and rocks, scraping her shins and gritting her teeth when brambles scratched along the fair skin of her legs. The sky seemed to grow dark faster than she expected. They had set out at noon, Adira thought; but then, when the temple itself had appeared magically in the middle of the day, why was she surprised by nightfall coming early? Perhaps it was part of the test.

She hoped with each step that Lily would come swooping down out of the cave. Adira wanted to see her. Oddly, something felt _right_ about Lily being a dragon. To be honest, there had always been something a bit otherworldly about her, a bit jarring. She was too wise for her years, people always said, and Adira nodded. They had all seen it—but how did you believe your eyes, when the truth was that your friend was a dragon? They just hadn't known how to interpret what they saw.

It occurred to her that the same thing would be happening down on the beach right now. Surely someone must have seen a dragon flying overhead. Fishermen out in their boats, or the rich people on their little yachts. Children on the beaches. And they were all thinking they were going crazy, except maybe the children, who would bury it under layers and layers of memories until maybe someday they'd tell _their_ children the story, and by then, they'd say, "Once, when I was little, I thought I saw a dragon."

How could one believe such a thing? One couldn't. It was impossible. Frankly, Adira wished it was impossible, because she was beginning to believe it really was true. And that was terrifying. There was no other word for it.

She made the last of the journey nearly on her hands and knees. Dark had fallen with no moon and no stars, no lights twinkling in the little village below. A false night, then. As if this night was part of the world where that temple existed. Or was it when?

It probably didn't matter. All that mattered was not falling down the mountain. Fantasy novels seemed devoid of those sorts of practical considerations, Adira thought grumpily. Heroes never forgot the rhyme to open the cave, or fell sideways off their horse, or sneezed at the wrong moment and alerted the enemy. It was all very unfair. She seemed to be a part of a fantasy novel now, after all, and here she was still worrying about falling off of a cliff.

Then she smelled the dragon. There was no mistaking it. It was like smelling a bear: you didn't have to have smelled one before to know that you should run for your life. It was something that had been passed down for years and years by humans until sweat and dirt and fur, musty and old, made you want to run and run. Just so with dragons, only they smelled of seawater and deepest night. Those were the scents, but not the picture it conjured in Adira's head: claws and teeth and wings and fire.

 _Run_! Her mind screamed at her, and she had to fight not to do so. This wasn't just any dragon. This was Lily. Lily who, it occurred to her now, might not remember her at all. Oh, dear.

"Lily?" Her voice trembled. But there was no point in running away. The dragon could surely have heard her coming. "Lily, it's Adira."

There was the sound of slithering in the dark. Adira began to make her way up to the cave, swearing and muttering as she hauled herself over boulders. She was going to be _very_ annoyed if she had come all this way only to die horribly when the dragon ate her.

Although she supposed she'd only be annoyed very briefly, after all.

"Lily?" she called again as she hauled herself over the lip of stone and into the cave itself. Every part of her ached. There was not a single patch of skin without a bruise or a scrape or a cut. There were going to be a lot of questions when she got home—if she got home.

"Go away," a voice said from the darkness. It was Lily's voice, unmistakably, and yet not. It came from a larger chest now.

"I'm not leaving," Adira said quietly.

"You have to. Or you'll get caught up in all of this."

"Okay, well just listen to me for a moment." Adira waited, and Lily said nothing. "If you'd asked me yesterday, I would have said none of this was possible. There weren't dragons or weird time-traveling temples or old men shapeshifting into kids. But apparently it all is. And I don't know the rules, Lily, but I know I care about you. Maybe he's right. Maybe I am your mate, and we're bound together forever."

"I can't do that to you," Lily whispered.

"You aren't doing it to me. If it's true, then it's just a thing that _is_. But whether or not it's true, Lily, you're my friend. There's no way in hell that if things were the other way around, you wouldn't be here coming to find me. So maybe we're mates for life, and maybe we're just having a fling and it won't work out, and maybe we're just friends, but no matter what we are… I'm not leaving you here to do this alone."

There was a very long silence, while Adira stood still and tried not to sway with pain.

And then the dragon emerged. There was still no light from the sky, but Lily seemed to make her own light. Scales shone black and yet filled with light. They coated a sinuous body, wings folded down along the back, clawed feet stepping almost delicately on the rough stone floor. The head was snake-like, and yet the most beautiful thing Adira had ever seen. Even the fangs glittered, black and so sharp that Adira could tell what they were even in the darkness. Trembling, her instincts torn between telling her that this was her friend, and that this was a terrible beast she should run from, she walked forward slowly and laid her hand on Lily's nose.

With a sigh, the dragon's form fell away, and Lily was just Lily again, shockingly out of place in her jeans and tank top. She really should be wearing long, flowing robes and wearing a crown. It just fit.

"Addy," she said softly. "Think this through. I'll need to transform. It's part of what I am now. It's bad enough that I have to figure out how to live in this world, but how are you going to do it, too?"

"We'll move to Montana," Adira said promptly. Encouraged by the other woman's surprised chortle of laughter, she grinned. "We'll tell everyone we're ranchers or something. Raise cows."

"Mmm. I don't think cows are such a good idea. I might eat them." Lily looked around, the predatory swing of her head bringing to mind the dragon's head.

"We'll figure it out," Adira said, trying to steer the woman away from facts. She reached out for Lily's hand. "Look…just tell me. What happened? What _is_ this?"

Lily sighed again, running her other hand through her hair. She led Adira to the mouth of the cave and they sat with their legs dangling over the edge, staring out at a night they could barely see.

"When I was very little," Lily began, "my grandmother told me about the dragons from Greek legends. She said they'd been forgotten, that the gods had been jealous of their power and erased them when they came into being. She really believed in all the old stuff, you know, she wasn't part of the church. She said when she was little, she even saw dragons.

"Anyway, I was five. I ate it all up. And when I was older, when she died—she gave me a ring. She said it had belonged to _her_ grandmother, and that she said it sang, but my grandmother could never hear it. She said I'd have to figure out for myself what it did.

"Well, that was the first time I saw that old guy. I walked out of the hospital and he was there. I knew he was waiting for me, I just didn't know how I knew. He told me that what I had in my pocket was old magic, and it would turn me into a dragon if I kept it. He didn't use those words, but I just knew what he meant. And like an idiot, I said that sounded like a good idea. I was twelve! I couldn't decide if I wanted to be a construction worker or a ballerina or what, and guys were starting to pick on me, and high school was coming up…being a dragon sounded _great._ "

She sounded so glum that Adira couldn't help laughing.

"It's…I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh."

"No, it's funny. It is! It's funny. Because what 12 year old is going to say no to that? But it was the stupidest thing I ever did." Her face was sad again. "And then I started thinking it wasn't real, but I could never get rid of the ring. And then a few weeks ago, right after we met? I started having these dreams. And everyone has flying dreams, I know that, but these were different. I really felt like…

"And then the transformations started. I'd already agreed to this trip and I wanted to go so badly, and I was just scared about when it might happen." She shook her head. "I shouldn't have come. You wouldn't have gotten caught up in this then."

"What's _this_ , though? So you're a dragon. I mean, it's weird, but…"

"It's a whole different world," Lily said seriously. "It has its own rules. Like dragons having mates…and hunters. That man there? He's a dragon hunter. He even told me when he first met me. And now he's coming to kill me, Addy. And I don't think I know enough to keep him away."

"Well, we'll just have to see," a voice said from behind them. They whirled to find the man, still stooped. But there was a sword in his hand, with a blade that whispered death. As they watched, he picked it up, and leveled the point at Lily's heart.

Chapter Six

Lily began to transform and Adira didn't even wait. With the highest, loudest scream she could manage, she threw herself forward and dove under the blade of the sword, driving her shoulder into his midriff. He went over with a yell and they hit the ground hard, rolling in opposite directions. Adira grabbed the sword and scrambled away, hissing at the pain of new bruises.

She was not enjoying this vacation as much as she had hoped. She swung the sword hard, feeling it connect with something and hoping against hope that it was the dragon hunter and not Lily. The very human yell seemed to support that, but she had no idea what she'd hit—or even if she'd hit it with the sharp part of the blade. It had taken both hands and a turning start even to get the blade to lift. She was developing a new appreciation for medieval knights.

Lily pounced without further ado, rippling past Adira in a flutter of scales and teeth and claws. She bowled into the dragon hunter and they tumbled into the depths of the cave, rolling over and over as he yelled and she snarled. Her scales shimmered in their own light.

An explosion of magic knocked Adira off her feet and she sprawled across the floor, whimpering with pain. She could hear Lily screaming and the man laughing maniacally, and all of a sudden, anger was roaring through her. This was Lily— _Lily_. And this guy who didn't know her at all was trying to kill her.

Well, he wasn't going to get a chance. What sort of person went around killing people he didn't know? Hunting them down in front of people he thought were their life partners? It was…

…Well, "rude" probably wasn't the correct word for it. Adira didn't have words for this situation. She left the sword where it was and sprinted into the fray, dragging the man off of Lily and punching him in the face. For good measure, she punched him twice more, and then, because she couldn't think what else to do, she kicked him in the shins. He went down, howling.

And then Lily was there again, pouring blood across her scales. Her teeth flashed in the darkness and the man screamed, and then there was nothing but silence—Adira gasping for breath, hearing the slow heave of Lily's breath.

"Oh my God," Adira whispered. "Quick, change back. How badly are you hurt?"

"I don't…" Lily's voice was half hiss. "I'm not sure." She sounded like she was gritting her teeth with pain and when she transformed, she stumbled into Adira's arms.

Adira got her down onto the floor, almost crying with fear. The gash lay along her side, seeping blood through the tank top. Lily whimpered when Adira touched the wound.

"How deep is it?"

"Just…just skin, I think." But it was bleeding so much, so fast. Adira could feel her throat closing with fear. She needed to get Lily back to the hotel, to a hospital, and she wasn't sure how to get them back out of whatever strange world they were in. What if they couldn't get out in time? What if the wound got infected? She clutched Lily's hand and tried not to cry.

A laugh from behind them made them turn.

"Very well done," the old man said.

"But…we killed you." Adira looked over to where the mangled body had been, and was somewhat relieved to see that it was no longer there. "Wait. How did that _not_ kill you?"

"Don't trouble yourself with that." The man waved his hand, his smile growing. Outside, behind him, the stars began to twinkle once more in the sky. The faint sounds of a plane, of the nightclubs, filtered up with the wind. "What you should trouble yourself with is getting back before sunlight. But I'll help you with that."

"Wait just a second. She's hurt."

"Ah. Yes." The man walked closer and stopped at Adira's glare. "I mean her no real harm, human."

"Then why are you a dragon hunter?" Lily choked out.

"Tsk tsk, dragons these days. I really hoped you would catch on sooner. My dear, that was the trial. It is a test all dragons must undergo—first combat. I needed to see if you could control yourself. Some…lose all sense of self and go wild in their dragon form. Some have no will to fight. Both of those must, regretfully, be eliminated."

"You _kill_ them?"

"If I did not, those who go mad would kill hundreds. I cannot allow that. And those with no will to fight are a danger to the dragonkin in other ways. But all of that will be made clear in good time." A gesture, and the wound knit itself together under Adira's hands. "There. Good as new."

"Wait," Lily croaked. She pushed herself up, staring at the man. "What now?"

"Now…you wait. Your orders will come. There are battles to be fought, other creatures who make humans their prey. You are a defender. You must be ready."

"Dragons defend humans?" Adira asked.

"Why did you think dragons always have human mates?" His eyes twinkled. "I will say, this is the first time I've had a mate intervene in the trials. You humans get feistier with every century, it seems. Well, back you go. Get yourselves cleaned up."

There was no time to say goodbye before they were deposited only somewhat gently on the floor of their hotel room. Adira, who had landed on several existing bruises, let loose with a stream of profanity, and Lily only gave a strangled sound of complaint.

"Dear God," Lily said finally, pushing herself up. "Well, he's right, we do need to get cleaned up."

"Can't I just rest here for a moment?" Adira asked plaintively. Now that she was on the floor, it seemed like a good place to stay.

"Nope. Come on." Lily took her hands and hauled her up, turning her around and unzipping her sundress. "I still can't believe you climbed a mountain in a sundress."

" _That's_ the part of this day that you can't believe?" Adira asked acidly, and she was rewarded with a laugh…and, as she turned, with the sight of Lily stripping off her jeans and top. Black panties and a lacy bra covered her slim body, and she gave a knowing smile at Adira's look.

"Maybe you're not so tired after all?" she suggested wickedly. "I'll be in the shower," she added, slipping her panties down over her hips and reaching to unclasp her bra as she strolled into the bathroom. "Don't make me wait too long."

Adira shrugged out of her own bra and panties, listening to the shower start and Lily give a little moan at the hot water. Behind the glass partition, she could see the outlines of Lily's body as the woman turned, hands in her hair, soaking up the warm water.

She didn't have to wait at all. Adira was there a moment later, lathering soap across the woman's skin, smiling when Lily caught her breath. It felt amazing. The hot water stung on every cut and scrape, but still, all she could see was Lily's smile. They were here together, maybe mates, maybe not—all that mattered was that they were together, and this felt more right than anything else in Adira's life.

She had dreamed a hundred things that made her blush, but it was the kiss that undid her completely: Lily's lips soft against hers, their tongues tangling, fingers cupping her face. Their bodies were pressed together, and Adira only wanted to be closer, to know that this would never end. When Lily's hands slid down over her skin, she thought she would faint.

She needed this. It completed her. They tumbled out of the shower together, sprawling out on the bed in a tangle of limbs and hair, wet skin pressed together, Lily's lips on Adira's collarbone, fingers between her legs. It was too much, after the day they had just had, and somehow not enough. Adira spread her legs, arching against Lily's fingers, and felt herself reaching her pleasure already, wet and moaning for more.

"Please." There was no conscious thought, only desperate need. She was burning up. She bucked against Lily's fingers and whimpered.

"Please what?" Lily's laugh was wicked. Her tongue traced around Adira's nipple, but her fingers paused.

" _Please_ ," was all Adira could manage, and Lily took pity on her, fingers moving hard once more, her mouth tracing down over Adira's ribs, to her hipbones, and finally down between her legs.

Adira pressed her hand over her mouth to stifle a scream. It was too good. It was everything she had wanted. She felt the pleasure building and whimpered, trying to hold back her pleasure, but it was no use. It burst through her a moment later, shattering her mind. She clenched, pleasure rippling through her body, crying out Lily's name and hearing her own in return.

And it was then that she knew: the man had been right all along. They were mates. This wasn't going to fade away. This was forever—past and forward in time. They had been together for always, and they would be together forever more. Adira could still see her first glimpse of Lily—or so she had thought. A punk rock girl with an awful Mohawk and a smile like dawn breaking.

Her mate. Her dragon. Eyes closed, a smile on her lips, Adira drifted to sleep with her head pillowed on Lily's shoulder.

The End


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